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The American Commission 
ON Conditions in j^^^ 

IRELAND: ^^^^^ 

Interim Report 



PERSONNEL OF THE COMMISSION 

L. HOLLINGSWORTH WooD, Chairman. 

Frederic C. Howe, Vice-Chairman 

Jane Addams 

James H. Maurer 

Major Oliver P. Newmajst 

U. S. Senator George W. Norris 

Rev. Norman Thomas 

U. S. Senator David I. Walsh 

Secretaries : 

William Mac Donald 
Harold Kellock 



PERSONNEL OF THE COMMITTEE ON CONDITIONS 



iM't. 



IN IRELAND ^^„. 

-- Jane Addams, Hull House, Chicago, 111. ^ A v' 

Hon. Charles F. Amidon, U. S. District Judge, FArgo, N. D. 
-^U. S. Senator, Henry F. Ashurst, Prescott, Arizona. 

Bishop James Atkins, M. E. Church South, Nashville, Tenn. 

Mary Austin, writer and lecturer, New York City. 

Abby Scott Baker, Washington, D. C. 

Governor Simon Bamberger, Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Abraham Baroff, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, New 

York City. 
Et. Rev. Troy Beatty, P. E. Bishop of Tennessee. 
Mayor C. F. Beck, Akron, Ohio. 
Mayor Bartin Behrman, New Orleans, La. 
Fred G. Biedenkapp, Brotherhood of Metal Workers, New York. 
William Harman Black, former member National War Labor Board, 

New York City. 
Alice Stone Blackwell, Boston, Mass. 
Harriet Stanton Blatch, New York City. 
Lucy Branhan, New York City. 
J. M. BuDiSH, United Cloth, Hat, and Cap Makers of America, New York 

City. 
Rt. Rev. Hugh L. Burleson^ P. E. Bishop of South Dakota. 
Rt. Rev. C. E. Byrne, Bishop of Galveston, Texas. 
Governor Thomas E. Campbell, Phoenix, Arizona. 
Rt. Rev. John J. Cantwell, Bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles. 

,U. S. Senator Arthur , Capper, Topeka, Kansas. 

Governor Robert D. Carey, Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

Frank E. Carstarphen, Special Counsel for the Federal Government, 

New York City. 
J. J. Castellini, merchant, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Parley P. Christensen, Presidential Candidate, Farmer-Labor Party, Salt 

Lake City, Utah. 
Professor Arthur C. Cole, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. 
George W. Coleman, President of th© Open Forum National Council, Bos- 
ton, Mass. 
Martin Conboy, former Director of the Draft, New York City. 
Henry W. L. Dana, Cambridge, Mass. 
Rev. William Horace Day, former Moderator of the National Council of 

Congregational Churches of U. S., Bridgeport, Conn. 
Rt. Rev. E. T. Demby, P. E. Suffragan Bishop of the Colored Race, Province 

of the Southwest, Little Rock, Ark. 
Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois, editor of The Crisis, New York City. 
Professor Horace A. Eaton, Syracuse University, Syracuse, N. Y. 
Governor Edward I. Edwards, Trenton, N. J. 
John Lovejoy Elliott, Hudson Guild, New York City. 
Hon. J. W. Folk, former Governor of Missouri, Washington, D. C. 
Mrs. Andre Fouilhoux, Short Hills, N. J. 

'" ■■■■I ■ I ■*ff>'*'"™<'**«TCi«M«p«M«M> 'IMT 

LIBRARY OF CONQREM ^"^ 



JUN1510II 



Clemens J. France, former Collector of the Port of Seattle, Wash. 
Royal W. France, lawyer. New York City. 
Governor Lynn J. Frazier, Bismarck, N. D. 
Zona Gale, writer. Portage, Wis. 

John F. Galvin, former Chairman, Board of Water Supply, New York. 
Gilson Gardner, Washington correspondent, Newspaper Enterprise Ass'n. 
^^^^^is Eminence^ James Cardinal Gibbons, Baltimore, Md. 
Mayor C. P. Gillen, Newark, N. J. 
Arthur Gleason, writer. New York City. 
Hon. James H. Graham, former Congressman, Springfield, 111. 
Mayor Frank J. Hague, Jersey City, N. J. 
William Hard, writer, Washington, D. C. 

Rt. Rev. Robert Le Roy Harris, P. E. Bishop of Marquette, Mich. 
Dr. Gillette Hayden, Columbus, Ohio. 

Professor Carlton J. Hayes, Columbia University, New York. 
Mayor J. J. Hayes, Vicksburg, Miss. 
„_- William Randolph Hearst, newspaper publisher. New York City. 
Charles B. Henderson, former U. S. Senator, Elko, Nevada. 
Mayor Joseph Herman, Newport, Ky. 
Morris Hillquit, lawyer. New York City. 
Rabbi E. E. Hirsch, Professor of Rabbinical Literature and Philosophy, 

University of Chicago. 
Mayor Daniel W. Hoan, Milwaukee, Wis. 
Judge George Holmes, Omaha, Neb. 
Rev. John Haynes Holmes, President Free Religious Association, New 

York City. 
Rt. Rev. J. M. Horner, P. E. Bishop of Asheville, N. C. 
P'REDERic C. Howe, former Commissioner of Immigration of the Port of 

. New York. 
Bishop John Hurst, Methodist Episcopal Church, Baltimore, Md. 
,^ Mayor John F. Hylan, New York City. 

Dr. Edmund J. James, President Emeritus, University of Illinois. 
, — U. S. Senator Hiram W. Johnson, San Francisco, California. 

James Weldon Johnson, Secretary of the National Association for the 

Advancement of Colored People, New York City. 
William H. Johnston, International Machinists' Union, Washington, D. C. 
Rev. Paul Jones, formerly P. E. Bishop of Utah, New York City. 
Dr. David Starr Jordan, Chancellor Emeritus, Leland Stanford Jr. Uni- 
versity, California. 
Most Rev. James J. Keane, Archbishop of Dubuque, Iowa. 
Mayor H. W. Kiel, St. Louis, Mo. 

Edwin P. Kilroe, Assistant District Attorney, New York City. 
Richard R. Kilroy, editor. Anaconda Standard, Butte, Mont. 
Dr. George W. Kirchwey, Head of Department of Criminology, New York 

School of Social Work, New York City. 
Rev. G. S. Lackland, Denver, Colo. 
_ U. S. Senator Robert M. La Follette, Wisconsin. 

^-ilON. F. H. La Guardia, President of the Board of Aldermen, N. Y. Citv 

._John S. Leahy, St. Louis, Mo. ' 

Owen R. Love joy. General Secretary, National Child Labor Committee, 

New York City. 
Professor Robert Morss Lovett, University of Chicago. 
Hazel MacKaye, Director of the Bureau of Pageantry and the Drama, 
Y. W. C. A., New York City, 



III 



Rabbi Judah L. Magnes, Chairman of the Executive Committee, Jewish 
Community (Kehillah) of New York City. 

Mayor James B. McCavitt, Anaconda, Mont. 

Allen McCurdy, Secretary of the National Executive Committee, Commit- 
tee of 48, New York City. 

U. S. Senator Charles L. McNary, Salem, Oregon. 

Bertha H. Mailly, Executive Secretary, Rand School of Social Science, 
New York City. 

Hon. Dudley Field Malone, former Assistant Secretary of the U. S. 
Treasury, New York City. 

Basil M. Manly, Director of the Scripps Economic Bureau, Washing- 
ton, D. C. 

Mayor Elliott Marshall, St. Joseph, Mo. 

Anne Martin, publicist, Reno, Nev. 

Congressman William E. Mason, Chicago, 111. 

James H. Maurer, President Pennsylvania State Federation of Labor, Har- 
risburg. Pa. 

Mrs. Katherine M. Meserole, Bellport, Long Island, N. Y. 

John E. Milholland, -business man and writer. New York City. 

A. P. Moore, editor of the Pittsburgh Leader, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Mrs. Agnes H. Morey, Brookline, Mass. 

Bishop H. C. Morrison, M. E. Church South, Leesburg, Fla. 

William J. Mulligan, Supreme Director of Knights of Columbus, Thomp- 
sonville, Conn. 

Mrs. William Spencer Murray, Catskill, N. Y. 

Professor William A. Nitze, head of the Department of Romance Lan- 
guages and Literatures, University of Chicago. 

PJdward N. Nockels, associate editor. The New Majority, Chicago, 111. 

Rt. Rev. John J. O'Connor, Bishop of Newark, N. J. 

Daniel C. O'Flaherty, Richmond, Va. 

Rt, Rev. Charles T. Olmsted, P. E. Bishop of Central New York. 

M. O'Neill, Akron, Ohio. 

Rt. Rev. Edward L. Parsons, P. E. Bishop Coadjutor of California, San 
Francisco, Cal. 

Captain Julius C. Peyser, Washington, D. C. 

U. S. Senator James D. Phelan, San Francisco, Cal. 

Rev. Watson L. Phillips, Shelton, Conn. 

Amos R. E. Pinchot, lawyer and publicist. New York City. 

Mayor Willis H. Plunkett, Phoenix, Ariz. 

Rev. Levi M. Powers, Washington, D. C. 

Mayor George A. Quigley, New Britain, Conn. 

Mayor Edward W. Quinn, Cambridge, Mass. 
-Congressman Charles E. Randall, Kenosha, Wis. 

U. S. Senator Joseph E. Ransdell, Louisiana. 

Mrs. James Rector, Columbus, Ohio. 

Raymond Robins, formerly Commissioner in command of the American 
Red Cross Mission to Russia, Chicago, 111. 

Gilbert E. Roe, lawyer. New York City. 

Mrs. John Rogers, Jr., New York City. 

Rev. John A. Ryan, Professor of Theology, Catholic University of Amer- 
ica, Washington, D. C. 

Professor Ferdinand Schevill, Professor of Modern History, University 
of Chicago. 

Rose Schneidermann, Woman's Trade Union League, New York. 

Mayor Cornell Schrieber, Toledo, Ohio. 

Hon. R. O. Sharon, Peoria, 111. 

IV 



Congressman Isaac R. Sherwood, Toledo, Ohio. 

Dr. John S. Simon, St. Louis, Mo. 

J. C. Skemp, International Union of Painters and Decorators, Lafayette, 
Ind. 

Mayor E. P. Smith, Omaha, Neb. 

Mrs. Anna Garlin Spencer, minister, educator, White Plains, N. Y. 

U. S. Senator Selden P. Spencer, St. Louis, Missouri. 

Emma Steghagen, Woman's Trade Union League, Chicago, 111. 

Doris Stevens, New York City. 

Mayor Peter F. Sullivan, Worcester, Mass. 

Rev. Norman M. Thomas, editor of The World Tomorrow, New York City. 

Richard C. Tolman, Associate Director Fixed Nitrogen Research Labor- 
atory, War Department, Washington, D. C. 

Albert B. Unger, Assistant District Attorney, New York City. 

Hon. James K. Vardaman, former U. S. Senator, Jackson, Miss. 

Mrs. Henry Villard, Dobbs Ferry, N. Y. 

Congressman Edward Voight, Sheboygan, Wis. 

John H. Walker, Illinois State Federation of Labor, Springfield, 111. 

-U. S. Senator David I. Walsh, Boston, Mass. 

J, Barnard Walton, General Secretary, Advancement Committee, General 
Conference of the Religious Society of Friends, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Dr. James P. Warbasse, President of the Cooperative League of America, 
New York City. 

William Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette, Emporia, Kan. 

Rt. Rev. Cortlandt Whitehead, P. E. Bishop of Pittsburgh, Pa. 

L. Hollingsworth Wood, lawyer. New York City. 



LIST OF WITNESSES CALLED BEFORE THE COMMISSION 
CITIZENS OF IRELAND 

Denis Morgan, Chairman of the Urban Council of Thurles. 

John Derham, Town Councillor of Balbriggan. . 

Mrs. Muriel MacSwiney, widow of the late Lord Mayor of Cork. 

Miss Mary MacSwiney, sister of the late Lord Mayor of Cork. 

Daniel Francis Crowley, member of the Royal Irish Constabulary for 
three years up to June, 1920. 

John Tangney, member of R. I. C. from October, 1915, to July, 1920. 

Mrs. Anna Murphy of New York City (husband an Irish citizen). 

John Joseph Caddan, member of R. I. C, February to November, 1920. 

Daniel Galvin, member of R. I. C, October, 1907, to July, 1920. 

Laurence Ginnell, member of Dail Eirann, and member of the Irish Re- 
publican Cabinet. 

Miss Susanna Walsh, sister-in-law of Thomas MacCurtain, late Lord 
Mayor of Cork. 

Miss Anna Walsh, sister-in-law of Thomas MacCurtain, late Lord Mayor 
of Cork. 

DONAL O'Callaghan, Lord Mayor of Cork and Chairman Cork County 
Council. 

Thomas Nolan, Galway. 

Frank Dempsey, Chairman of the Urban Council of Mallow. 



Miss Louie Bennett, Dublin, Secretary of the Irish Branch, Women's 

International League. 
Miss Caroline M. Townshend, Bandon, County Cork, officer of the Gaelic 

League. 
J. L. Fawsitt, Irish Republican Consul General at New York. 

ENGLISH CITIZENS 

Mrs. Annot Erskine Robinson and Miss Ellen C. Wilkinson, both 
of Manchester, representing the British Branch of the Women's Inter- 
national League. 

AMERICAN CITIZENS 

Rev. Michael M. English, Whitehall, Montana. 

John F. Martin, attorney. Green Bay, Wis. 

Rev. Dr. James M. Cotter, Ironton, Ohio. 

Mrs. Agnes B. King, Ironton, Ohio, 

Francis Hackett, New York City, associate editor of The New Republic; 

investigated conditions in Ireland for the New York World. 
Miss Signe Toksvig (Mrs. Hackett), New York City. 
P. J. GuiLFOiL, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
Miss Ruth Russell, Chicago (investigated conditions in Ireland for the 

Chicago Daily News). 
Miss Nellie Craven, Washington, D. C. 

Paul J. Furnas, New York City, member Society of Friends. 
Mrs. Michael Mohan, Corona, New York. 
John Charles Clarke, Corona, New York. 
Daniel J. Broderick, Chicago, 111. 

Emil Pezolt, Oakland, Cal., junior engineer on U. S. Westcannon. 
Henry Turk, San Francisco, messman on the U. S. Westcannon. 
Harold Johnson, Bucks Co., Pa., sailor on the U. S. Westcannon. 
Ralph Taylor, Scott Township, Pa., messman on the U. S. Westcannon. 
Peter J. MacSwineY, New York City, brother of the late Terence Mac- 

Swiney. 



HEARINGS OF THE COMMISSION 

Public hearings were held by the Commission at Washington, D. C, 
November 19 and 20, December 9, 10, 11, 15, 18, 21, 22 and 23, 1920, and 
January 13, 14, 19 and 21, 1921. In addition, there have been numerous 
executive sessions of the Commission and sub-committees to arrange ad- 
ministrative details, consider reports, documents, etc. 



VI 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER . p^Qj^ 

Map 

Personnel of the Commission Title Page 

Personnel of the Committee ■ u 

List of Witnesses '^Before the Commission v 

Hearings of the Commission vi 

I. History, Purpose, and Method of the Commission 1 

Origin of the Cominission, 1 ; Purposes of the Commission, 1 ; 
Method of Gathering the Evidence, 2; Witnesses Invited, 2; 
British Prevent Investigation in Ireland, 4. 

II. Review of the Situation and Statement of Findings 7 

Events Leading to the Present Crisis, 7; How Great Britain 
Met the Insurrection, 8; Irish Resistance, 10; British Re- 
sponsibility, 11; Conclusion, 13. 

III. Imperial British Forces in Ireland 15 

IV. The British Campaign in Ireland 19 

Ley de Fuga, 24; Reprisals, 27; " Sinn Fein Extremist," 37; 
Where the Responsibility Lies, 44; Destruction of Property, 
45; Burning of Towns, 47; Official Sanctions for Destruc- 
tion of Property, 47; Industrial Destruction, 48; The British 
Terror in Ireland, 52; Religious Services, 57; Deaths and 
Wakes, 57; Funerals, 59. 

V. Physical Consequences to the Imperial British Forces in 

Ireland gQ 

Causes of Casualties Suffered by Imperial British Forces, 
62; Policy of Assassination, 73. 

VI. Moral Consequences to the Imperial British Forces 79 

Imperial British Officers, 86; Imperial British High Com- 
mand in Ireland, 92; Imperial British Government in Ire- 
land, 96. 

VII. Political Aspect of the Imperial British Policy in Ireland 101 
The Irish Republic, 103; Failure of the Imperial British 
Policy. in Ireland, 105. 

Supplemental Report: The Religious Issue in Ireland ill 

Appendices 119 



THE AMERICAN COMMISSION ON CON- 
DITIONS IN IRELAND: INTERIM REPORT 



CHAPTER I 

History, Purpose, and Method 
of the Commission 

ORIGIN OF THE COMMISSION 

THE American Commission on Conditions In Ireland present:; 
herewith to its parent body, the Committee of One Hundred on 

Ireland, a report on its inquiry to date on the situation in Ire- 
land. The Commission has been conscious from the outset of the 
strict obligations of sincerity and impartiality imposed on it by 
the very character of the distinguished personnel of the Committee 
of One Hundred from which the Commission derived its authority. 
The Committee of One Hundred was called together through the 
good offices of the editors of the New York Nation, who made every 
effort to gather a body of men representative of all shades of Ameri- 
can opinion, by inviting the participation of every United States Sen- 
ator, the Goyernor of every State, the Mayors of the large cities, 
college presidents and conspicuous professors, every Methodist, Protest- 
ant Episcopal, and Roman Catholic Bishop, the editors of the 
metropolitan daily newspapers and of the leading organs through- 
out the country, and prominent citizens distinguished in every de- 
partment of civil life. It was expected to find through this means 
a hundred fair-minded citizens who would be able and willing to give 
some time and thought to conditions in Ireland and to the creation 
of a commission of inquiry. The responses exceeded expectations; 
over one hundred fifty persons accepted membership. This parent 
Committee of the inquiry includes five State Governors, eleven United 
States Senators, thirteen Congressmen, the Mayors of fifteen large 
cities. Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop Keane, and four Roman Catholic 
Bishops, seven Protestant Episcopal Bishops, four Methodist Bishops, 
and clergymen, priests, educators, editors, business men and labor 
leaders. Thirty-six states were represented in the Committee. 

This body elected from its membership a Commission of five 
members to conduct its inquiry with power to increase its membership. 
It has availed itself of that power. 

PURPOSE OF THE COMMISSION 

The situation in Ireland was a proper subject of concern for all 
peoples claiming either humanity or civilization. It appealed par- 
ticularly to Americans, so closely bound by ties of blood and culture 



2 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

to the Irish and English people. Unless moral force could prevail 
to end the terror in Ireland, physical force seemed to us bound to 
continue both to deny the possibility of peace in Ireland, and to dim- 
inish the possibility of non-intervention of our government in the 
struggle. It seemed to us that we could best serve the cause of peace 
by placing before English, Irish and American public opinion the 
facts of the situation, free from both agonized exaggeration and 
merciless understatement; for a knowledge of the facts might reveal 
their cause, and recognition of that cause might permit its cure, by 
those whose purpose was not to slay but to heal. 

The facts available to us for investigating the situation were the 
atrocities caused b)'^ it. We, therefore, sought evidence of these 
atrocities, from both sides, in the hope that we could make clear to 
the English on the one hand and to the Irish on the other, our desire 
to do them the service which our common civilization required as a 
right, our common humanity as a duty. 

METHOD OF GATHERING THE EVIDENCE 

Every phase of the formation of the Committee of One Hundred 
and of the development of its plans was promptly brought to the atten- 
tion both of the British Ambassador and of President DeValera, who 
was then in this country. They were promptly informed of the election 
of the Commission and of its program and purposes. Each was invited 
to cooperate with the Commission, to designate witnesses, and to be 
represented at the hearings by counsel, if such was his desire. Prof. 
DeValera, President of the Irish Republic, accepted the Commission's - 
invitation. / The British Embassy, to the regret of the Commission, \ 
took the attitude that while it would do nothing to hinder the inquiry, 
it would do nothing to assist it; but gave to the Commission the 
assurance of the British Government that passports would not be 
refused to Irish witnesses "on the ground that they wished to testify 
before the Commission." Both the Embassy and President DeValera 
assured the Commission that there would be no reprisals against Irish 
witnesses, whatever their testimony. The correspondence with the 
British Embassy and President DeValera will be found in Appendix A. 

WITNESSES INVITED 

From the outset the Commission made every effort to gather evi- 
dence that would enable a complete inquiry to be made. The chief 

administrative officers of Irish cities and towns that 
Witnesses were focal centers in recent disturbances were asked 

IrelTnd *° ^°"^^ *° ^^^^ country to testify. These included 

Londonderry, Belfast, Cork, Balbriggan, Thurles and 
Mallow. Cardinal Logue, the Irish Primate, was asked to send a dele- 
gation of the hierarchy to give testimony. Prominent leaders in Irish 
life, such as Sir Horace Plunkett, George Russell {"M"), and Arthur 



HISTORY, PURPOSE AND METHOD 3 

Griffith were invited. The next of kin of public officials who had been 
killed on one side or the other, such as Mrs. MacCurtain, widow of the 
late Lord Mayor of Cork, who was slain in Cork and Miss Irene 
Swanzy, sister of Inspector Swanzy of the Royal Irish Constabulary, 
who was killed'at Lisburn, were also invited. Sir Edward Carson, the 
Ulster leader, was asked to come in person or to send a representative 
to present to the Commission the case from the official Unionist view- 
point. Similar invitations were sent to Lord French and Sir Hamar 
Greenwood. None of the three replied, though all refused and repudi- 
ated the invitation in newspaper statements. 

It is noteworthy that none of the anti-Republican Irish citizens 
invited gave an acceptance except Miss Swanzy, who cabled that she 
would come. After the Commission had cabled her the assurance that 
£300 would be provided for her expense money, she declared that she 
could not come without her mother, and an additional allowance of £100 
was made for her mother's trip. Subsequently a letter was received 
from her stating that certain information she had received from sources 
unnamed caused her to decline the invitation. 

The other Irish witnesses invited, generally, made efforts to get here 
in person, or to send representatives. Cardinal Logue cabled that certain 
bishops were unable to secure passports. George 
Russell, unable to come, sent an informative state- Transportation 
ment. Donal O'Callaghan, Lord Mayor of Cork, 
unable to secure a passport, slipped over without one, as a stowaway. 
Mr. Peter MacSwiney came as a seaman. Messrs. Morgan and Derham 
arrived safely on a small trading vessel. Others were less fortunate. 
Mrs. MacCurtain was shot at and her house was raided and denuded of 
evidence shortly after she had received the invitation of the Commission. 
Her shattered health — she had given birth to still-born twins a few 
months after her husband was killed — prevented her from taking the 
long trip, and two of her sisters came in her place. 

The Commission also tried to secure as witnesses a number of 
British citizens representing various English points of view on Ireland. 
LTnfortunately, members of the British Labor Party 
delegation that investigated conditions in Ireland have Witnesses 

thus far been unable to come to the Commis- 1*"°"? , 

Jingland 

sion to give us at first hand the benefit of their in- 
quiry. Their report, however, is before us. Others, such as Mrs. 
Annan Bryce and Mr. H. W. Nevinson, were likewise unable to accept 
our invitation. The British Branch of the Women's International 
League sent to us Mrs. Annot Erskine Robinson and Miss Ellen C. 
Wilkinson, both of Manchester, two of a delegation of ten English- 
women representing their branch of the League, which made a first- 
hand investigation in Ireland last autumn. They gave direct testimony 
and presented to the Commission the official report of their delegation. 



4 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

The report on Ireland of the British Society of Friends was also placed 
before the Commission by Mr. Paul Furnas of New York. 

One of the witnesses invited by the Commission was the Rev. T. T. 

Shields of Toronto, Canada, who accompanied the delegation of Ulster 

Protestant clergymen on their tour of the United 

English ^ States last year, and who, we were informed, had 

1 nesses in some Valuable documentarv evidence on Ireland in his 

America 

possession. Mr. Shields received the advances of the 
Commission in a mood of unreceptivity, and the effort to secure hig 
testimony, and possibly that of some members of the Ulster delega- 
tion, failed. A number of English journalists in the United States 
were also invited to testify, but in no case was an acceptance received. 
Valuable testimony was given by fifteen American citizens who had 
recently visited Ireland, including several journalists. In addition to 
the direct testimony the Commission has gathered a 
American mass of reports and documents bearing on Ireland, 

including numerous official British reports and stat- 
istics, and the weekly official bulletin of the Irish Republic- 

The Commission's inquiry has received cordial cooperation and sup- 
port from leading citizens representing various groups in Irish life, in- 
cluding Cardinal Logue, Sir Horace Plunkett, George 
Irish, English, Russell, Mrs. Alice Stopford Greene, Lieutenant 
^"^ . Commander Erskine Childers, Mr. Arthur Griffith 

Friendliness ^^^ officers of the Irish Labor Movement. Its in- 

quiry has been greeted with similar cordiality by many 
leading English citizens, including Sir Francis Vane, Bart., of Hut- 
ton, who was the chief British recruiting officer in Ireland during the 
war ; Mr, H. W. Nevinson, Sir John Simon, Mr. Annan Bryce, Mr. 
Arthur Henderson, Mr. George Lansbury, Mr. William P. Adamson, 
Mr. C. T. Cramp, Mr. George Bernard Shaw, and others. American 
Senators, Governors, Mayors and other distinguished citizens warmly 
approved our project although precluded from participation in it. 

BRITISH PREVENT INVESTIGATION IN IRELAND 

It must be pointed out that while the reports and documents gath- 
ered by the Commission present the case of Ireland from diverse points 
of view, the direct testimony available gives the case 
Defects of almost wholly from the Irish Republican viewpoint oi 

nquiry from sources not unsympathetic to the application of 

the principle of self-determination to Ireland. In other words, the 
Ulster Unionist viewpoint and that of British officialdom in Ireland, in 
spite of every earnest effort of the Commission, were not represented 
among the witnesses. Diligent efforts were made to remedy this un- 
fortunate defect. 



6 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

The Commission planned, among other things, to send a sub-com- 
mittee to England and Ireland, and it was arranged that in England this 
committee should consult every available source of 
Commission^ British opinion on Ireland. Major Newman, Mr. 

Refused Vises j^/^^urer and Dr. William MacDonald, the Secretary 
of the Commission, were selected for this mission, but after passports 
had been secured from our State Department the British Government 
through the Embassy refused vises. (See correspondence, Appendix 
At) 'The Commission regretted this action, not only because of its 
prejudicial eflfect against the British Government on a large section of 
American opinion, but particularly because the first suggestion that the 
Commission extend its inquiry to England and Ireland had come from 
British sources, from a group of the principal leaders in the Labor 
Party. 

We wish to commend the frank and dispassionate spirit in which 
the Irish witnesses presented their testimony. They came to us in 
many cases under conditions of great personal inconvenience, or even 
danger. In so far as they represented the Irish people before the 
Commission, that people has cause for pride in them. 



CHAPTER II 

Review of the Situation and Statement 
of Findings 

OUR inquiry has been concerned with only those aspects of condi- 
tions in Ireland that appeal to the sympathy, conscience and sense 
of justice of mankind, and that cannot be ignored if the traditions 
of civilization are to be the basis of human comity. Repeated refusal 
of the Imperial British Government to permit a parliamentary or judicial 
investigation that would reveal the facts made inevitable both this 
inquiry and subsequent inquiries by various groups of British citizens. 
This departure from traditional British frankness in dealing with the 
activities of Imperial officials and troops culminated in the suppression 
of the report of General Strickland on the burning of Cork. The 
Imperial British claim to Ireland would seem to us to incur more injury 
from such concealment than any revelation could possibly inflict. 

EVENTS LEADING TO THE PRESENT CRISIS 

The terms of our reference did not allow us to extend our inquiry 
to the historical relation of Ireland to the British Empire and the 
economic and social effects of that relation as shown by the loss of 
population and the condition of the people. The revival of Irish 
nationhood and the part played in it by the Gaelic League,^ the co- 
operative movement, the Irish Labor Movement and the Sinn Fein 
organization were also beyond our scope. Certain facts, however, must 
be understood as a basis for a correct appraisal of present events. These 
facts do not seem to be questioned and may be set forth without offering 

proof. 

The central fact in the Irish situation is the presence of the British 
in Ireland. The British can point to 700 years of possession of Ireland, 
and to 700 years spent in trying to pacify Ireland; and the British 
naturally desire to continue to possess Ireland, for they are proud of 
their empire, jealous of its integrity, and anxious about its security. 

The Irish people from age to age, almost from generation to 
generation, have contested the right of the British in Ireland. Since 
the United States was liberated from the British Empire, the Irish 
people had asserted their natural right by arms on the following occa- 
sions: 1783. 1798, 1803, 1848 and 1867. These and "constitutional" 
efforts won from the British Parliament the abolition of Penal Laws 
against Roman CathoHcs, the disestablishment of the Irish Church, 



8 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

liberal land laws, and, finally, the Irish Home Rule Act, which was 
passed by Lords and Commons and signed by the King in 1914. At the 
beheSt of the British Tories, under the titular leadership of Sir Edward 
Carson, that act was forthwith suspended for the duration of the war to 
which the Irish Nationalist leader John Redmond and his party gave 
their support. Later the act was rendered void by a superseding act 
which partitioned Ireland. 

To fight the Home Rule Act, Sir Edward Carson's Tory lords had 
started the Ulster rebellion of 1914, armed the Unionists there, and set 
up a Provisional Goyernment in Belfast. This insurrection was abetted 
by Lord French, and by Sir Henry Wilson, now of the Imperial British 
High Command. Thereafter Sir Edward Carson and the other leaders 
in the Ulster insurrection were promoted to high office in the Imperial 
British Government. 

After this, in 1916, Irish poets, teachers, and leaders, with less than 
1000 followers, rose in rebellion, and declared Ireland's independence. 
Confronted with the Irish Declaration of Independence, the Imperial 
British Government poured additional troops into Ireland. The re- 
bellion was crushed in April, 1916. 

/The Imperial British Government then continued to pour troops 
I into Ireland. The Irish to an increasing degree were deprived of civil 
i and social liberty. Such British rule lasted until December 14, 1918, 
when, at the conclusion of a war avowedly fought for the rights of 
small nations, the Irish people in the general election, held under British 
auspices, gave the endorsement of their suffrage to the Irish Republic 
which was the election issue in Ireland.* In fulfillment of their pledge 
the elected representatives of the Irish Republic met in Congress (Dail 
Eirann) at Dublin, organized as a Government, nominated officers, 
and proceeded to function (January 21, 1919). And an army known 
as the Irish Republican Army was created, equipped with distinctive 
uniforms, and drilled openly. 

HOW GREAT BRITAIN MET THE INSURRECTION 

It is with the means used by the British Government to meet the 
situation brought about by the defection of the Irish people that this 
Commission was required chiefly to concern itself by the terms of its 
appointment. Since no exponent of the policy of the Imperial British 
Government availed himself of the opportunity offered by the invitation 
of the Commission to appear in defence or explanation of the British 
policy in Ireland, the Commission has been forced to determine the 
outlines of this policy partly by the proven actions of the Imperial 



* In England the election issue was, "Make Germany pay for the war and 
hang the Kaiser"; in Ireland, "Separate completely from England." In effect, the- 
English did not vote on this Irish issue and the Irish did not vote on the English 
"khaki" issue. 



\ 




10 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

British forces in Ireland and partly by decrees, orders and other official 
British proclamations put in evidence. 

Civilized governments meet such a situation in one of two ways : 
(1) a declaration of "a state of war" and suppression of the insurrection 
under the rules of warfare as recognized and practiced by civilized 
peoples; or (2) a declaration of martial law under which responsible 
governments maintain their authority when the ordinary processes of 
civil law are deemed inadequate. 

It does not appear that the Imperial British Government used 
the first of these two measures to meet the situation in Ireland, at least 
until February 24, 1921, when a decision of the King's Bench in the 
case of John Allen declared that a "state of war" existed in Ireland. 
It seems clear that, until this date, proclamations of martial law and the 
Restoration of Order in Ireland Act of 1920, were relied upon to 
legalize the British policy of repression. But the facts suggest that the 
actual operation of this policy was not based upon law. There exists 
neither under the laws of war nor under the codes of martial law in 
civilized states any justification for assassination, pillaging or terrorism 
as a means of suppressing insurrection. And yet this Commission is re- 
luctantly forced to the conclusion by evidence to be set forth in the 
succeeding chapters, that such means are relied upon by the Imperial 
British forces in Ireland to bring the Irish people once more under the 
control of the Imperial Crown. 

IRISH RESISTANCE 

It is admitted by witnesses who have appeared before us that 
during the years 1919 and 1920 following the creation of a Republican 
government, members of the Imperial British forces have been killed 
by the forces of the Irish Republic. No direct evidence has been pre- 
sented as to these killings or as to their exact number. These are the 
cases customarily referred to by spokesmen of the Imperial British Gov- 
ernment as the "murders of policemen." We have heard testimony that 
the greater number were slain in conflicts between the forces of the Irish 
Republican Army and the Imperial British forces — often in raids by the 
Irish to secure arms and ammunition. The rest, it is testified, were 
killed either because they were spies or because they were guilty of some 
specific crime directed against Irish Republicans ; and had been tried and 
condemned before death. (We note that it is generally conceded that 
among the victims of this procedure were no women or children, aged 
or infirm, priests or ministers.) It is not contended that the victims 
were present at these trials, and we have received no proof of the cir- 
cumstances alleged in extenuation of these killings. We may take 
cognizance of the fact that among the more prominent of the victims 
were Inspector Swanzy, indicted by a Coroner's jury as one of the 
murderers of Lord Mayor MacCurtain of Cork; and Colonel Smyth, 
concerning whom witnesses presented proof that he incited his men 



THE SITUATION AND THE FINDINGS 11 

to wholesale slaughter of Sinn Feiners. We have also been impressed 
by the evidence developed by a British military tribunal in the trial 
of one Teeling that Lieutenant Angliss, one of the British officers who 
were killed in Dublin on November 21, 1920, had been living as a 
civilian in a house in Dublin under the assumed name of MacMahon. 
Furthermore, evidence has been presented which would seem to indi- 
cate that no British "police" or soldiers were killed by the Irish in 
1917 or 1918 with the single exception of an inspector who was injured 
leading a baton charge to suppress a public assembly, and who died 
later of his wounds. There is evidence, however, that during these two 
years the Imperial British forces had carried on a campaign of suppres- 
sion in which more than a thousand Irish were arrested without warrant, 
and deported, or held in custody without trial ; that fairs and markets 
were prohibited; assemblies of unarmed men and women were broken 
up by violence; and about a dozen Irishmen were killed by bullets or 
bayonets handled by Imperial British "police" or soldiers. But when 
all this has been set forth it seems established by the evidence that cer- 
tain discriminate assassinations were the deliberate work of Irish 
citizens. 

The Commission would point out that murder is not a question of 
date. And if the Irish assassinations are in essence "executions, yet the 
accused is perforce absent from his trial; and the condemned not being 
in custody, the executioners in error may dispatch some uncondemned 
person. We deeply deplore the whole procedure no matter how great 
is the provocation as contrary to the dictates of social morality. If the 
purpose of assassination was to safeguard the people, it has failed ; 
the British terror was not arrested by it but has continued in 
spite of it and has progressively intensified. Assassination would seem 
to us necessarily degrading to those who actively participate in it; 
injurious to the fair fame of the Irish people ; and harmful to the cause 
of Ireland in the public opinion of the world. 

BRITISH RESPONSIBILITY 

The Commission, however, understands that the British Govern- 
ment has not abandoned its claim to be the titular custodian of law, 
justice and order in Ireland. Political assassination especially in a 
country where ordinary murder is as uncommon as in Ireland is a phe- 
nomenon whose causes require investigation. It has therefore seemed 
of paramount importance to examine the means used by the British 
Government to enforce whatever principles of justice it deems applicable 
to Ireland, and to ascertain, if possible, upon what principles this justice 
is grounded. For, if we accept the claim of Great Britain that it is in 
control of affairs in Ireland, we cannot escape the conclusion that the 
British Government must accept responsibility for the deplorable con- 
ditions that have followed upon its attempts to maintain its authority. 



THE SITUATION AND THE FINDINGS 13 

CONCLUSIONS ^ 

We find that the Irish people are deprived of the protection of 
British law, to which they would be entitled as subjects of the British 
King. They are likewise deprived of the moral protection granted by 
international law, to which they would be entitled as belligerents. They 
are at the mercy of Imperial British forces which, acting contrary both 
to al law and to all standards of human conduct, have instituted in 
Ireland a "terror" the evidence regarding which seems to prove that : 

1. The Imperial British Government has created and introduced into 
Ireland a force of at least 78,000 men, many of them youthful and 
inexperienced, and some of them convicts ; and has incited that force 
to unbridled violence. 

2. The Imperial British forces in Ireland have indiscriminately killed 
innocent men, women and children ; have discriminately assassinated 
persons suspected of being Republicans; have tortured and shot 
prisoners while in custody, adopting the subterfuges of "refusal to 
halt" and "attempting to escape" ; and have attributed to alleged 
"Sinn Fein Extremists" the British assassination of prominent Irish 
Republicans. 

3. House-burning and wanton destruction of villages and cities by 
Imperial British forces under Imperial British officers have been 
count'enanced, and ordered by officials of the British Government; 
and elaborate provision by gasoline sprays and bombs has been made 
in a number of instances for systematic incendiarism as part of a 
plan of terrorism. 

4. A campaign for the destruction of the means of existence of the 
Irish people has been conducted by the burning of factories, cream- 
eries, crops and farm implements and the shooting of farm animals. 
This campaign is carried on regardless of the political views of their 
owners, and results in widespread and acute suffering among women 
and children. 

5. Acting under a series of proclamations issued by the competent 
military authorities of the Imperial British forces, hostages are 
carried by forces exposed to the fire of the Republican army; fines 
are levied upon towns and villages as punishment for alleged 
offenses of individuals; private property is destroyed in reprisals 
for acts with which the owners have no connection ; and the civilian 
population is subjected to an inquisition upon the theory that indi- 
viduals are in possession of information valuable to the military 
forces of Great Britain. These acts of the Imperial British forces 
are contrary to the laws of peace or war among modern civilized 
nations. 



14 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

6. This "terror" has failed to reestablish Imperial British civil govern- 
ment in Ireland. Throughout the greater part of Ireland British 
courts have ceased to function; local, county and city governments 
refuse to recognize British authority ; and British civil officials fulfill 
no function of service to the Irish people. 

7. In spite of the British "terror" the majority of the Irish people 
having sanctioned by ballot the Irish Republic, give their allegiance 
to it; pay taxes to it; and respect the decisions of its courts and 
of its civil officials. 



CHAPTER III 
Imperial British Forces in Ireland 

THE testimony before the Commission shows the forces of the 
Imperial Government in Irelanll to be divisible into three 
classes : 

(a) The Royal Irish Constabulary. 

(b) The Military. 

(c) The Auxiliaries. 

The Royal Irish Constabulary seem to number between 9,000 and 
10,000; and are commonly referred to as the R. I. C, or the "police." 
They appeared to be a body recruited in Ireland, given ti. p i r 

military training, taught to use revolvers, carbines, and 
bayonets, made expert in bomb throwing, organized as a military force, 
distributed at strategic points under the command of officers called 
inspectors, and responsible not to elected Irish authority but to Imperial 
British authority. 

In addition to these 10,000 "police," the Imperial British forces in 
Ireland contain regular regiments of the British army, such as the 
Essex, the Lancashire, the Hampshire, the Cameron 
Highlanders, and the Seventeenth Lancers — number- 
ing, it is testified, anywhere from 60,000 to 200,000. These men wear 
trench helmets and are equipped with all the modern instruments of 
destruction. 

Besides these, there are seven thousand irregulars, wearing partly 

R. I. C, and partly military uniforms, who are distinguished by their 

origin, their high rate of pay, and their character, and . 

, , -rti 1 1 '-n Auxiliaries 

who are known as Black and lans. 

Lastly, we have testimony concerning a supplementary irregular 
force of higher rating than the Black and Tans, comprising mainly ex- 
officers of the British army, called Cadets, and num- 
bering more than 1,000. Altogether, the Imperial ®** 
British forces in Ireland would at the lowest estimate seem to number 
78,000, one to, approximately, every eight adult males in Ireland, ex- 
clusive of Ulster. 

The splendid tradition of the Imperial British forces in the late 
war, as well as justice to the rank and file of these forces now engaged 
in Ireland, would seem to require that the consideration of the circum- 
stances in which they find themselves should precede the consideration 
of their conduct in these circumstances. 

15 



IMPERIAL BRITISH FORCES IN IRELAND 17 

The skirmishes, ambushes, and other activities of the Irish Repub- 
lican Army, together with the nature of the miUtary duty in Ireland, 
would appear to give grounds for natural apprehension 
to the Imperial British forces. Miss Ellen C. Wilkin- 
son read into the record a picture of the apprehension which lurked in 
the mind of a member of the Imperial army. "Only those who have ex- 
perienced," this man writes, "the thrill of patrol work and raids in Ire- 
land can realize the strain on the nerves. At any second we may meet 
an active antagonist. In Ireland the enemy is a shadow. A sinister 
death, rarely seen until it is too late to advance or retreat, may lie just 
around the corner." 

Two publications of the Imperial British Government were men- 
tioned in the evidence ; one, TJic Hue and Cry, and the other. The 
Weekly Summary. Miss Wilkinson testified : "There is a publica- 
tion called The Weekly Summary given by the British Government to 
the Black and Tans in Ireland, and it purports to give a list of all 
the crimes of Sinn Feiners against the government. It is, of course, a 
deliberate incitement to violence. Copies of this have been produced 
in the House of Commons, and the government has been very severely 
criticized about it, but without much result." 

It would appear that the natural fear of the Imperial British 
forces in Ireland is fostered by propaganda into terror, under the I 
auspices of the Imperial British Government. The bearing of this 
natural and artificial apprehensiveness upon the prevalence of drunken- 
ness among the troops may be surmised if not defined. And the temp- 
tation, to quell fear in drink would appear to be officially placed before 
the British troops by the barrack canteens. 

John Charles Clarke, an American, witnessed the shooting of a boy 
on the streets of Cork by two drunken Black and Tans, who, scarcely 
able to walk, fired into a crowd, and were then led 
away by their fellows. , Drunkenness 

Mr. P. J. Guilfoil, testifying to a raid he witnessed on a saloon at 
Feakle, County Clare, said : "The military had taken possession. They 
were plainly partaking of the liquors in the place. I saw that as I 
passed by." And later: "It was getting dark. Dr. O'Halloran, the 
town physician, came down and I said: 'Where have you been?' and 
he said : 'Up to the barracks. They are all wild drunk.' " 

John Tangney, a former member of the British forces, testified 
concerning a raid in which he participated, on a village near Ballylorby : 

This County Inspector Lowndes had the orders, and he adjourned 
to an adjoining saloon and had a drink, and two young military 
officers, who were in charge of the military party, adjourned with him 
and got stupidly drunk. All three were drunk. There were some 
Irish terriers outside the saloon door, and the officers took these dogs 
and threw them at each other Well, we went home and the military 



18 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

were firing all the way back. I myself had to come to a soldier who 
was stupidly drunk and take a revolver out of his hand. 

John Joseph Caddan, a former member of the R, I. C, testified 
that about one year ago canteens were opened in the barracks, to serve 
liquor in unrestricted quantities to the men. The men drank before 
going out on service. "They were up there, some of them, most of 
the night drinking." 

Frank Dempsey, Chairman of the Urban Council of Mallow, testi- 
fied that w^hen that town was burned by British soldiers September 
27th, 1920, most of the soldiers in the raid were drunk. "The first 
thing they did was to fire revolver shots and rifle shots about the town. 
Next they raided some of the public houses and looted them and got 
drunk." The witness states he complained to the officer, who replied 
that he had lost control over them : "Damn it, they are all drunk." 

It would appear that the Imperial British troops engaged in Ireland 

were composed partly of war veterans but also in appreciable numbers 

of raw youths. Many of the witnesses emphasized 

Youth of the extreme youth of the British soldiers in Ireland. 

Imperial j^^ Belfast Mrs. Annot Erskine Robinson and her com- 

British , . , . 

Forces panions saw large numbers of youths of seventeen or 

eighteen wearing the uniform: "None of them looked 
like men." Miss Wilkinson found the same condition in the South : 
"It is the boys who are being sent to Ireland now." Mrs. Robinson 
described these boy soldiers as "the most pitiable figures in Ireland 
today. They have been brought straight from home, and with no 
knowledge of life. They are under military discipline, and believe they 
are in the midst of a hostile population. Many of them are absolutely 
nervous and hysterical. The drinking habit has become common — 
there is nothing else for them to do." "When you get these boys to- 
gether and talk to them and fill up their minds with the idea that 
every Irishman is a murderer," continued Miss Wilkinson, "you bring 
about war psychology, and then you get the atmosphere that makes it 
possible for these things" [the outrages against the persons and prop- 
erty of Irish citizens] "to be done." 

Testimony alleged that these young soldiers have in the Black and 

Tans associates sometimes of questionable character. It was stated 

in evidence that a British detective discovered in a 

onvic s single barracks several with criminal records, attracted 

to the service perhaps by its licence, perhaps by the pay — which is 

equivalent to that received by a lieutenant in the British army in France. 

It would appear that in such a force discipline is necessarily lax. 



CHAPTER IV 
The British Campaign in Ireland 

ACCORDING to lists compiled by the Irish Republican Govern- 
ment and submitted to us, over 200 unarmed Irish civilians were 
killed by the military and "police" during 1920 alone. This num- 
ber does not include persons killed in skirmishes or battles between 
English and Irish armed forces, j)r in indiscriminate firing. According 
to the Irish Republican figures the list includes six j..... 

women, twelve children, ten old men and two priests. 
The increase in the killings over those of the past few years is startling. 
For 1919 eight similar killings were recorded, for 1918, six, and for 
1917, seven. 

We cannot vouch for the exactness of these figures, but we have 
direct testimony describing the killing of MacCurtain, Walsh, Buckley, 
Quirk, and the boy at the Galway railway station ; of ten men, one woman 
and three children at Croke Park; and of others. In addition, statements 
made before us indicate that when local disturbances (not military 
battles) and general shooting-up of towns are added to the category, the 
tally of civilians violently brought to an end in 1920 runs into many 
hundreds. Miss Signe Toksvig testified that figures published in 
Belfast for the month of August alone showed 56 persons killed in 
that one city, as the result of local disturbances. We shall cite from 
the testimony as few instances as are necessary to elucidate it, selecting 
them not for their ghastliness but for their instructiveness. 

The Rev. Dr. Cotter was in Dublin when John A. 
Lynch, a Republican Councilman and Registrar of ^°^J^ ^- Lynch 
Courts, was shot in the Exchange Hotel (September 
21,1920). He investigated the tragedy : 

Six soldiers came to the door of the hotel at two o'clock in the 
morning, asked to see the register, looked for a name and went to room 
number six. They left. Nobody heard any sound. And some half 
hour or so afterwards two policemen came and knocked at the hotel 
and said to the night clerk : "We are going to guard room number six, 
where a man lies dying. The military told us to come here." All the 
next day they stood guard at that room, and did not even admit the 
proprietor of the hotel into that room. They supposed the man was 
dying. He was shot in the throat. The military held the inquest. 

In the village of Ragg, Thomas Dwyer, known as 
a Republican, was shot at his own door January 21, Thomas Dwyer 
1920. Councillor Morgan testified: °* ^^^^ 

19 



THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND 21 

A knock came at the door and his sister, a married lady, opened 
the door, and they demanded her brother. She said he was upstairs. 
He came down with a candle in his hand. Two shots were fired and he 
fell. A man at the door said : "I think I will finish him." And he fired 
another shot into him. The verdict in that case was "Wilful murder 
against the members of the Royal Irish Constabulary." 

In each of these cases, the assassination of a particular person 
seems to have heen sought. If any trial preceded the assassination, the 
accused was absent from it. 

The identity of the victim was established in the first case by occu- 
pancy of a room. The uncertainty of such methods of identification is 
emphasized by the deaths of James McCarthy and Patrick Lynch. 

Dennis Morgan, Chairman of the Urban Council 
of the agricultural town of Thurles* in Tipperary, {f^^ , 

told of several killings in the neighborhood during the ^f Thurles 

"past year. Here is one incident: 

A member of the Urban Council named McCarthy was very 
prominent in demanding an inquiry into the shooting up of the town. 
At the Urban Council he put forward a resolution that some inquiry 
be held as to the importance of the damage done and everything else 
in the shooting up of the town. This chap got a letter informing him 
, that if he came up Pryor Street in the direction of the barracks they 
would give him all the information he wanted. Naturally, he did not 
move. A few nights afterward, after the family was in bed — they 
live off the Liberty Square— the family was in bed about two o'clock 
in the morning. A knocking came at the door and they asked who was 
there, and they said they were looking for one McCarthy. The mem- 
ber of the Urban Council is Michael McCarthy. The brother, a lad 
named James, who never takes part in public life in any way, simply 
a chap who is fond of going ai^ound with dogs and sporting, he said 
he would go down and answer the door. As he answered the door the 
men asked him what was his name. Immediately two shots were fired, 
and he fell back dead in the hall. The men wore police uniforms. 

Rev. Michael M. English of Whitehall, Montana, 
testified to a killing he investigated in the town of ^^!^"^^ .^y!^*^** 
Hospital, County Limerick: 

On the morning of Sunday, the fifteenth of August, I went to 
the town of Hospital. Upon the previous night a number of soldiers 
had entered the house of Patrick Lynch, a harness maker, a single man 
forty years of age, living with his two. sisters and a blind father. 
These soldiers had entered his house at eleven-thirty, Sunday night, 
while they were on their knees saying the rosary. The first asked 
Lynch to come along. He said: "Just a minute until I get my cap." 
They said : "You will not need your cap in the place you are going." 
They took him about a hundred yards to a place called the Fair Green, 
the village square. And then they shot him. There were about four 
wounds in his beads. His body was badly battered, 

* Thurles was partly destroyed January 20, 1920, following the killing of 
a policeman in the town. 



22 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

Lynch was not connected with the Repubhcan movement, and it 
was reported in the village that he had been mistaken for some other 
man of the same name. A statement was made public by the police 
to the effect that he had been shot by forces of the Crown while attempt- 
ing to escape. Father English attended the inquest and testified to us 
that no evidence to this effect was presented. 

Other instances of analogous mistakes leading to vicarious sacrifice 
were presented to the Commission. 

These killings would seem to take place indifferently, sometimes in 
the presence of the family, sometimes more remotely. We would be 
glad to think that the latter are governed more by the dictates of 
humanity than other considerations. 

There was no allegation of crime made against any of these de- 
ceased, so far as the testimony reveals. John A. Lynch was a member 
of the legal department of the Government of the Irish Republic. 
Thomas Dwyer was a recognized Republican; Patrick Lynch was mis- 
taken for a Republican namesake. None of them was alleged to have 
done any injury to the Imperial British forces, or to have held a posi- 
tion of authority in the Irish Republic such as to make him in any 
sense personally responsible for the direction of activities against the 
Imperial British forces. 

The deceased James McCarthy was the brother of a Republican 
Urban Councillor. The wages of a Republican would appear to be 
the portion of his kin. 

Mrs. King of fronton, Ohio, talked in Bantry with the mother of a 
hunchback youth who had been killed in his home a few nights before 
Hunchback (August, 1920). The woman had two sons, one a 

Boy Volunteer, who was "on the run." 

There were no lights at night on the streets of Bantry, and the 
Black and Tans or the R. I. C. — they are disguised so that one could 
not tell to which body they belonged — they knocked at the door. She 
answered the knock with a candle in her hand. The soldiers knocked 
the candle from her, using an electric light to light them up the stairs. 
The Volunteer boy was not at home. The little hunchback boy ran 
from his own room into his brother's room. The mother rushed up 
the stairs after them, and was in sight of the tragedy when it occurred. 
"My boy's hands were raised in prayer," she said. "They shot through 
his uplifted hands." 

Having accomplished such a murder, the soldiers or police dis- 
appeared. Their individual identity was not established ; and they were 
under no necessity to justify the killing. Their motive can be inferred 
only from the character and political connections of the intended victim. 
But cases have been presented to us in which specific individuals of 
Republican affiliations, having been sought and found by the Imperial 
British forces, were slain not in their homes but while in custody. The 
case of Patrick Lynch of Hospital would appear to indicate that the 



24 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

killing of an untried prisoner in Ireland may require and evoke an 
explanation. 

LEY DE FUGA 

Lord Mayor O'Callaghan testified that "this practice of shooting 

men while prisoners and then alleging that they were shot in an effort 

to escape," had become much more frequent since the 

"Shot trying coroners' inquests had been done away with by British 
to escape ,i •, 

authority. 

A case in point is that of the Buckley brothers, two young Repub- 
licans of Midleton, County Cork, arrested together on August 27, 1920. 
Mrs. Michael Mohan of Corona, New York, testified 
Buckley ^^lat she saw them removed from the barracks in 

rSrothers ii/r- n i i r/- i • ' 

Midleton, hand-cufted, in a lorry, accompanied by sol- i 
diers. When they reached Cork in that lorry both brothers had been 
shot and one of them was dying. The military stated that they had 
been shot trying to escape. Here is the sworn deposition of the 
surviving brother, as presented to the Commission by Lord Mayor 
O'Callaghan : 

On Friday morning, August 27, 1920, at the hour of 1 A. M., 
I was awakened. by very loud knocking at the door. My brother Sean 
and myself were sleeping in the one room; we got up and dressed, 
then came downstairs. My father had come down before us and had 
the door opened. Two policemen, one of whom was Constable Clancy 
of Midleton Police Barracks, and a Cameron officer, entered. About 
twenty-five Cameron soldiers who accompanied them surrounded the 
house outside. 

A thorough search of the house was proceeded with for about 
an hour and ten minutes by the officers and a sergeant of the Came- 
rons. The officer then placed my brother and myself under arrest, 
without charging us with any offense. We were taken on foot by the 
entire party to the military headquarters at Midleton, which is occu- 
pied by Camerons. We were handcuffed there and left in the guard- 
room until evening, when we were removed about 6 P. M. During the 
interval we were at the military barracks, the handcuffs were kept on 
us for ten hours, but. our treatment otherwise while in the barracks 
was quite normal. 

At 6 P. M. we were placed in a military motor lorry in charge of 
a Cameron officer, and about ten Cameron soldiers, and the lorry pro- 
ceeded along the main road leading to Cork. We were both hand- 
cuffed separately and were sitting on the floor of the lorry. I was at 
the rear of the lorry and my brother Sean was at the front, both of 
us facing in the direction from which we had come. About half a 
mile outside the town I heard my brother cry out, and immediately a 
sharp revolver shot rang out. The shout from my brother was in all 
probability occasioned by his seeing his assailant leveling the revolver 
at him. A second shot followed almost instantly, and I fell in the 
lorry, shot through the right shoulder. I gave no provocation whatso- 
ever for this shot, and my brother gave none either. We were both 
sitting quite still, and were making no effort to escape, as is alleged 
by the military. 



26 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

An hour and a half later, we were both admitted to the military 
hospital, Victoria Barracks, Cork. During our journey to Cork, the 
military left us lying in the lorry and never approached us to ascertain 
the extent of our injuries, or to succor us in any way; neither did 
they speak — even among themselves — after firing the shots, until we 
reached the hospital. As my brother uttered no sound during the 
journey to Cork, I believe he was unconscious all the time. I suffered 
great agony from the wound in my shoulder, but did not speak. 

When we reached the hospital we were placed in a ward, and our 
wounds attended to. My brother died almost immediately on being 
admitted. 

On the 10th of November, 1920, I was released from the hospital 
without any charge being preferred against me, or being tried in any 
way. My right arm from the elbow down is still lifeless, and I am 
unable to move my fingers. 

If a charge existed against the deceased, he was not tried for it 
and it was not mentioned. He was a RepubHcan ; it would appear to 
us that he was murdered without provocation by soldiers wearing 
His Majesty's uniform while he was unarmed and handcuffed in a 
vehicle in the custody of an officer of His Majesty's Cameronians. 

Miss Louie Bennett testified to another application of this Ley 
de Fuga, and several more instances were presented to us. It would 
seem that "Shot trying to escape" is sometimes used officially to 
connote, the assassination of an Irish citizen, an unarmed prisoner of 
the Imperial British forces. 

The "refusal to halt" variant of this Ley de Fuga was called to our 
attention in the depositions from Patrick Nunan, a farmer at Butte- 
vant, County Cork, and his son Patrick, Jr., the latter 
"^^"f^' shot by soldiers in a raid on their home September 

28, 1920. The young man was out until late that 
evening, getting in some hay, and when he returned the raid was 
already in progress. The father deposed: 

Then I heard the order of "Hands up!" and I saw my son coming 
in the door with his hands above his head. The soldiers gathered about 
him, and before putting any question to him, one hit him with the butt 
end of the rifle, while others hit him with their fists about the face. 
They searched him, and they then asked him his name, and he said 
Paddy Nunan. They stopped when they heard his name. He went 
from the kitchen to the bedroom, and sat down on the bed beside his 
mother. He was not there more than two minutes when the soldier 
who had already threatened me, said, "Take that young fellow outside 
the door and shoot him!" This order was hardly given when three 
or four others approached him and told him to come on. I was in the 
room at the time this order was given, and when they were leading 
him out I attempted to follow, but was told to remain where I was. 
He was not far from the door, when I heard the reports of shots. 

At this point the son's deposition takes up the narrative : 

When I went outsider the door, I was shot in the right hand. The 
soldiers were standing around in a semi-circle, and I had walked only 
five or six yards from the door when I received several shots in the 



THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN iRMLAND 27 

back and front of my body. I fell forward on my face and hands. 
I was then hit on the jaw with something hard. They turned me over 
on my back, and opened my coat and waistcoat. One of them said, 
"We needn't bother with him any more." They then went away, and 
my father and family came to me, and I was carried in home. 

Mr. Nunan, Senior, further deposed that when the shooting 
occurred some soldiers who were searching the house called out : "Oh, 
King, we are in the wrong house." They then departed. Patrick, Jr., 
included in his deposition a report issued from military headquarters 
stating that he was shot for refusing to obey the command of "Halt !"* 
from soldiers already under fire, and that he was found in possession 
of ammunition. The deponent swears this statement is untrue. 

REPRISALS 

"Attempt to escape" and "refusal to halt" are used by the Im- 
perial British Government in explanation of the killing of Irish citizens, 
by persons directly identified as members of the Imperial British forces. 
In other cases, where the identity of these agents of outrage against 
the Irish people was likewise irrefutably established, we encountered 
the term "reprisal," used in the excusatory sense of a justifiable re- 
taliation, spontaneously carried out, by members of the Imperial Brit- 
ish forces, naturally incensed by the murder of a cherished comrade. 

Galway had been quiet before this date. In the 
police barracks were some fifty constables and one Se't^Yy^lSo*^ 
Black and Tan who was there temporarily from an- 
other town getting a motor car repaired. Krumm was the man's name, 
and he was described to us by former Constable John Joseph Caddan, 
(vho was stationed there at the time, as "a reckless fellow who drank a 
lot." Caddan testified that on the night in question Krumm had been 
drinking heavily, and along towards midnight he strolled down to the 
railway station announcing that he would be back presently with a 
fresh bottle of whiskey. He was in plain clothes. 

A crowd was gathered at the railway station at that time waiting 
for the evening papers from Cork. Two American witnesses, the 



* Sir Hamar Greenwood stated: "In reference to the Dublin Affair, I have 
received a telegraphic report to the effect that on Saturday evening, at about 
a quarter past five, two military lorries were passing down Charlemont St., 
near Charlemont Avenue, in Dublin, when a group of five or six young men 
was observed to run away. They were ordered to halt, and on failing to do so 
three shots were fired. I deeply regret to have to say that, as a result of the 
firing, a young girl named Annie O'Neill, aged 8 years, was killed, and another 
girl, named Teresa Kavanagh. was slightly wounded. The loss of this young 
innocent life is deplorable, but I hope the House will agree with me in the 
view that the responsibility does not rest upon the soldiers. 

Lord Henry Cavendish-Bentinck: Is it the practice to fire on men who are 
running away ? 

Sir Hamar Greenwood: Men who are ordered to halt and do not halt are 
fired at." — November 15, 1920. (Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 
Series V, Session 1920, vol. 134, col. 1506.) 



THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND 29 

Reverend Dr. James H. Cotter, of Ironton, Ohio, and Mrs. Agnes B. 
King, of Ironton, Ohio, were eye-witnesses to the following incident. 
In the words of Mrs. King: 

There was a man on the platform to whom I paid little 
attention. He wore what I think was a loose cap. He did Murder of 
not appear to me to be a regular soldier, nor did he seem nnamed 
to be the customa.ry Black and Tan. There was a woman ^ 

on the platform with three or four children. There was an English 
officer, and there were many civilians. Suddenly the man in the cap 
whipped out a revolver. He was standing with another man in 
ordinary attire. And he slashed the revolver around and began shoot- 
ing. One shot hit a boy in the leg. That boy was not killed instantly, 
but fell at once. He later died, and the next day I saw him in death. 
Then another young man jumped from the back and 
caught the soldier about the body, so that he had only i^^^f^^^ 
one hand free. And then a fresh shot rang out and ' ^ 
this soldier, or whatever he Was, fell to the ground. 

Rev. Father Cotter gave a similar account. 

Back in the barracks Constable Caddan had gone to bed. "The 
next thing I knew," he testified, "one of the constables came up and 
gave the alarm, and said one of the constables was shot. We all had 
to get up and dress and get our carbines. There were about fifty men 
in the barracks, and they ran amok then. The whole fifty came out 
in the streets." District Inspector Cruise rushed out with the men. 

The members of the R. I. C. proceeded to shoot up the town, to 
loot public houses, to burn residences and smash up business places, 
and we have the testimony of several persons, including Constable 
Caddan, that they took three men from their homes to shoot them. 
The firing squads were so drunk that two of these men escaped by 
promptly falling on their faces when the order to fire was given. 

They went to the house of a man called Broderick. There they 
found an old woman, about 70 years of age, shut her in a small room, 
poured gasoline in the room and set fire to the house. The woman 
was rescued by neighbors. 

From Broderick's they went to a house where a man named Quirk 
was lodging. He was taken by them at 4 :30 A. M. Quirk was not at 
the station when the original shooting occurred. 
Thomas Nolan, a witness, testified that he was walking o"*"1f *" °^ 

toward the station with Quirk to get the newspapers 
when they noticed a crowd rushing toward them, and after they were 
informed that there had been shooting they immediately went home. 
Nolan bade Quirk good night at 12:10 and at 7 the next morning he saw 
him lying at his home, with seven bullet wounds through his stomach. 

The further testimony of former Constable Caddan is as follows: 

The next day a British general came down and 
spoke to us in the Day Room. He had two motor Murderers 

lorries of soldiers there to guard him. He had two Commended 

other officers with him. The county inspector was there and two 



30 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

district inspectors and all the men in the barracks were there. And 
he started to talk about this business. He said, "This country is 
ruled by gunmen, and they must be put down." He talked about 
giving home rule to Ireland, and he said home rule could not be given 
until all of these gunmen were put down, and he called on the R. I. C. 
• to put them down. He asked them what they required in the barracks, 
and said that whatever they wanted he would give them, and that 
they were also going to get a raise in pay. And they said they needed 
machine guns, and he said that they would get them, and also tanks 
and more men, men who had been in the army during the war and who 
knew how to shoot to kill; and he said they would be the right men 
in the right place. 

An aftermath of this incident was the killing of Walsh, an urban 
Councillor of Galway, one of a considerable number of elected officials 
of Republican sympathies on whose killing we have 
Murder of direct testimony. Walsh was killed in the middle of 

Councillor October. He was the proprietor of a public house. 

He was the. father of eight small children. Five men 
in civilian clothes, supposed to be Black and Tans, entered his public 
house about 10 o'clock at night, ordered the crowd out and announced 
to Walsh that he would be a dead man within an hour. He asked 
permission to summon a priest and their leader replied: "To hell with 
the priest !" Then they took him out and his body was found floating 
in the harbor the next morning. No motive for this crime, except the 
Republican connections of the victim, could be discovered. Two wit- 
nesses, Miss Nellie Craven of Washington, D. C, a cousin of Walsh's, 
who had been visiting relations in Galway, and Thomas Nolan, who had 
been sleeping at Walsh's house, and was present when the armed men 
entered his establishment, gave testimony on this affair. 

When Balbriggan was shot up and burned in reprisal for the killing 
of a sergeant, in a drunken brawl, on the night of September 20, 1920, 

two men, James Lawless and John Gibbons, were taken 
Balbrirrgan: from their homes to the police barracks, and after 

G'bb d being held there through the night, and subjected to 

Lawless repeated threats, were finally bayoneted to death at 5 

o'clock in the morning, their bodies being left on the 
principal street. LVban Councillor John Derham, who gave testimony 
on this affair, saw the bodies early in the morning. His own house was 
burned down, and one of his sons, who had been beaten until he was 
unconscious by the raiding party, was left inside when the house was 
set fire to. The: young man recovered consciousness in time to crawl 
to safety. Virtually the whole population of Balbriggan was driven 
to take refuge in the open fields. Councillor Derham testified that three 
old people and two children subsequently died as the result of terror 
and exposure. 



32 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

On November 21 fourteen officers of the Imperial British forces 
were assassinated under conditions hereafter to be referred to in Dublin 
hotels and boarding houses. That afternoon the 
Croke Park Croke Park reprisal occurred. Mr. Nolan testified 

* that he was one of 8,000 persons present at a foot- 

ball match at Croke Park, Dublin, on November 21, 1920, when the 
Imperial British forces surrounded the field, and, without provocation 
or warning, fired with rifles and machine guns among the spectators, 
killing ten men, one woman, and three children and wounding about 
62 others; 200 more were injured in the resulting panic. The firing 
lasted ten or twelve minutes. He saw the Imperial British forces fire 
and rush and fire. And he saw the slain and wounded players and 
spectators fall. No shot was fired from the crowd either before or 
after the massacre and no member of the Imperial British forces was 
injured.* 

The evidence would seem to show that the term "reprisal" may be 
used to cover any case in which wholesale damage is inflicted upon 
property or life in Ireland. Reprisals consist some- 
what Is a times in promiscuous killing of unarmed men, women 
eprisa . ^^^ children, as in the case of the football crowd at 
Croke Park; but, usually, in the burning, looting and "shooting up" of 
Irish towns, such as Thurles, Balbriggan, Gal way. Mallow, Templemore, 
Cork, Tuam, Hospital, Limerick, Granard, Tubercurry, Achenry, Tip- 
perary, Ballylorby, and scores more. 

In Mallow barracks were a troop of the Seventeenth Lancers and a 

detachment of the Black and Tans. Mr. Dempsey, the Chairman of 

the Urban Council of that city, testified that on Sep- 

Mallow temper 27, 1920, Irish Republicans raided the barracks : 

To my knowledge, in the actual raid on the barracks there was no 
person from Mallow, with the possible exception of one or two. About 
25 of them held up the barracks, and about 25 more kept a lookout 
and waited for them in automobiles. They did this while a number of 
the men were out with their horses exercising them outside of the 
town. So the raiding party surprised them and held them up and com- 



* Major Barnes (House of Commons, 24th November, 1920) asked the Chief 
Secretary for Ireland what were the total deaths, men, women, and children, 
respectively, occasioned by firing on the crowd at the Croke Park football 
ground on the 21st of November; how many men, women and children, respec- 
tively, were wounded; whether a child was bayonetted; whether the military 
and auxiliary police suffered any casualties; and, if so, what were the num- 
ber of dead and wounded, respectively? 

Sir H. Greenwood: Ten men, one woman, and three children (under 14) 
were killed, or have died as the result of their injuries. These figures in- 
clude the case of a woman who was crushed to death and of a man who ap- 
parently died from shock. Twelve men have been detained in hospital for 
treatment of wounds and injuries. Fifty persons were treated in hospital, but 
not detained. I have no information as to how many of these cases were 
those of men, women or children, respectively. No child was bayonetted. There 
were no police or mi'-'ary casualties." (Loc. cit., vol. 135, cols. 453, 457.) 



THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND 33 

pelled them to hold up their hands, with the exception of five or six — 
they were not in the barracks' square at the time. These five or six 
ran out with rifles and revolvers and began firing with the result that 
in the melee, the sergeant-major, who wasn't in the barracks, and who 
was out with the other men, was shot, unfortunately. They took all 
the arms they had on them and all the arms in the barracks, and they 
sent out for a doctor and a priest for this man who was injured. 

And the Republicans departed without burning the barracks or 
taking prisoners. In Mallow Town : 

Everybody knew what was coming, from what had happened in 
other towns. The senior officer at Buttevant is in charge of th^ dis- 
trict that Mallow is in. He and some officers came to Mallow by 
motor immediately to see what had happened. The three ministers of 
the town waited on this colonel, and they asked for protection of the 
- . town from any reprisals. The officer in charge of the troops gave a 
guarantee that no reprisals would take place. He gave a guarantee 
to the Roman Catholic priest, to the Protestant Rector, Canon Her- 
mon, and the Presbyterian Minister, Reverend W. Baker. I forgot to 
mention that the clergymen in consultation had also wired General 
Macready, who was commander of the forces in Ireland at this time. 

About four o'clock in the afternoon an aeroplane came from 
Fermoy, the second largest military station in Ireland, and dropped 
a communication in the barrack yard. After that it flew to Butte- 
vant, and then flew back to Fermoy. We concluded in the town that 
it was some sort of agreement between the forces. 

About half-past ten a lorry of troops arrived in Mallow from 
Buttevant, and about five minutes after two more lorries arrived with 
troops from Fermoy. Fermoy is about sixteen miles east of Mallow 
and Buttevant about seven miles north. 

The first thing they did was to fire revolver and rifle shots and 
scream and fire around the town. The first thing after that they did 
was to raid some of the public houses and loot them and get drunk. 
And then they marched to the town hall, the seat of the town council. 
It was a fine old building — about 150 years old. The stairways of the 
hall and the doors and the ceilings, of course, were all timber. They 
were sprinkled all over with petrol, and some incendiary bombs thrown 
into it, and it was all set afire. 

In the Mallow "reprisal" the soldier killed was not assassinated 
or "ambushed," but was shot in the course of a raid for arms, after 
he had attempted to shoot members of the attacking force. The 
Republican forces that conducted the raid were not residents of Mallow. 
The citizens of the town appealed to the Imperial High Command at 
Dublin and to the competent local military authority for protection; 
and a deputation was assured by the officer in command of the district 
that they would receive protection. The burning and sacking of the 
town did not take place while the soldiers were in a fever of passion 
aroused by the sight of their dead comrade, but many hours after his 
death. Furthermore, the burning of the town was carried out, not by 
the troops of the local barracks, only a small number of whom partici- 
pated, but by soldiers who came in lorries from Fermoy and Buttevant, 
many miles distant. Finally, the numerous circumstances, such as the 




EXHIBIT 11 



Wide World Photo 



THE TOWN HALL OF MALLOW, BURNED BY IMPERIAL BRITISH FORCES 
USING INCENDIARY BOMBS AND GASOLINE SPRAYS. 



THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND 35 

dropping of messages at Mallow and Buttevant by an aeroplane sent 
out from headquarters at Fermoy, the complete equipment of the 
lorries with incendiary bombs and gasoline sprays, and the simultaneous 
arrival of the lorries from distant parts, all indicate that the burning 
and sacking of this town was planned in cold blood and executed with 
full knowledge of the military authorities in command of the Imperial 
forces. The term "reprisal" would seem to us to connote, sometimes, 
a retaliation appropriate neither in kind nor in degree. 

It appears that the town or village doomed .to "reprisal" was 
usually the actual seat of an attack upon a member of the British 
forces, as in the case of Galway, Balbriggan and Mallow. But the 
source of the reprisal at Tipperary on November 1, 1920, seems to have 
been an ambush at Thomastown six miles away. In another instance no 
known attack was said to have been made oh the British forces within 
a radius of 20 miles of the reprisal. In such cases the use of the term 
"reprisal" would seem to extend to anticipatory retaliation. 

Testimony has been submitted to us which purports to show that 
during 1917 Imperial British forces perpetrated in Ireland 7 murders, 
18 armed assaults on unarmed men, and 11 raids on private houses; 
arrested 349 civilians, court-martialed 36, and deported 24; forcibly 
dispersed 2 public meetings; and suppressed 3 newspapers. 

During the year 1917 the testimony shows that not a single member 
of the Imperial British forces was slain in Ireland, except a member 
of the R. I. C. who was struck while leading a baton charge and after- 
wards died of his injury. In 1917 the Irish citizens are a!lleged to have 
endured 450 outrages, including 7 murders, and refrained from re- 
taliation. 

Testimony before us further purports to show that in 1918 Im- 
perial British forces perpetrated in Ireland 6 murders, 61 armed 
assaults on unarmed civilians and 60 raids on private houses; arrested 
1,107, court-martialed 62, and deported 91; proclaimed and broke up 
by baton and bayonet 32 public assemblies; and suppressed 12 news- 
papers. In 1918, Irish citizens are alleged to have endured 1,651 out- 
rages. No officer of the Imperial British forces, "policeman" or sol- 
dier, was killed in retaliation. 

During this period, free speech and civil liberty seem to have 
been practically suspended in Ireland. The perpetrators of the out- 
rages upon the people apparently went unpunished, even the murderers. 
The whole force of the Irish Republic- seems to have been directed 
towards constraining the Irish people to endure in patience the increas- 
ing terrorism to which they were subjected by the Imperial British 
forces. Miss MacSwiney testified both to the increasing vigor of 
British repression and to these efforts of the Irish leaders to persuade 
the citizenry to patient endurance. During 1919 the Imperial British 
forces are alleged to have sacked and burned four towns, perpetrated 



THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND 37 

8 murders, 476 armed assaults on unarmed civilians, and 13,782 raids 
on private houses; arrested 959 men, w^omen and children, court-mar- 
tialed 309, and deported 20; dispersed 959 public meetings; and sup- 
pressed 25 newspapers. 

During 1919, the Irish citizens began to defend themselves against 
the Imperial British forces. The evidence would show that those 
assassinated were popularly believed to be spies or other special instru- 
ments of the British terror. 

During 1919, the British "reprisal" policy was instituted. It de- ' 
monstrably consisted in an acute intensification of the already long pre- 
vailing British terror. That terror was not initiated by the assassination 
of British military, was not confined to areas in which these assassi- 
nations occurred, and was not absent from areas where there had been 
no assassinations. It was, therefore, not in the nature of a retaliation, 
either justifiable or unjustifiable, on the part of the party first attacked. 
The official use of the term "reprisal" would consequently seem to us 
the stereotyped ruse de guerre, intended to lead the British and other 
people into condoning an aggravation of the Imperial British terrorism 
in Ireland. 

"SINN FEIN EXTREMISTS" 

In the campaign of murder and arson in Ireland, "shot trying to 
escape," "refusal to halt," and "reprisals," have appeared to us- as 
termes justificatifs employed by the Imperial British authority. An ex- 
culpatory term, "Sinn Fein Extremist," was also presented to us in the 
course of the evidence. We first noted the term "Sinn Fein Extremist" 
in the testimony of the assassination of Lord Mayor MacCurtain, and 
so far as we could discover the term first received its British connota-. 
tion in connection with that crime. 

The Misses Walsh, sisters-in-law of the Lord Mayor, and members 
of his household when he was assassinated, appeared before us. The 
story of the murder was told as follows by Miss Lord Mayor 

Susanna Walsh: MacCurtain 

There was a slight knock at the door about one o'clock or quarter 
past one. Mrs. MacCurtain heard it, and she put her head out of the 
window and called to find out what they wanted. They said : "Open 
the house quickly or we will break the door in." Mrs. MacCurtain 
wanted to go down. He said : "I will go, Mary." She said : "No, you 
mustn't. I will go down." But before she could get down to the 
door, it was burst in. Eight or nine men rushed in, with blackened 
faces and long coats, and caught her. Several of them held her, and 
the rest rushed upstairs. At the same time — I had a little red coat 
I used to throw over me, and I went out to the top of the landing. 
I heard the noise downstairs, and I heard the baby cry, and I ran 
downstairs to take the baby, for I knew that my brother-in-law would 
be in a terrible way. I arrived at the first landing just as two big 
men with blackened faces and big coats on them got to his door. And 
I heard the first man say, "Come out, Curtain!" And my brother-in- 



38 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

law said, "Give me time to dress. I am not yet ready." When my 
brother-in-law said, "Give me time to dress," I said, "Give me the 
baby, please." And they pushed me back. And I ran back to the 
bathroom, and I heard my sister shout, "Murder, murder, the police 
are murdering us all." And a neighbor woman who lives next door 
said, "Who is shot?" And I said, "My brother-in-law, MacCurtain." 
I rushed upstairs. I thought I would die with all of them. And as 
I went upstairs I heard heavy moaning in the corner, and I looked, 
and my brother-in-law lay just outside his bedroom door with blood 
coming from the region of his heart. 

Mrs. MacCurtain called for help from the windows and immedi- 
ately the house was fired on from the street. The disguised raiders 
then disappeared. Shortly afterwards, armed British soldiers, uni- 
formed and undisguised, made a supplementary raid on the house, 
but the Lord Mayor was already dead and laid out for burial. 

Thomas MacCurtain, Lord Mayor of the City of Cork, was a suc- 
cessful young business man. He had five children, the oldest ten years, 
and he supported three orphan nieces and an aged father. Several 
witnesses have testified to the high personal regard for him among 
people of all classes in Cork, in his funeral procession marched the 
local Protestant Episcopal Bishop, the Jewish rabbi, and clergymen rep- 
resenting the other local religious organizations, as well as thousands 
representing every phase of the Republican movement in Cork. A few 
d^ys before his death, the Lord Mayor had protested in the City Council 
against the terrorization of women and children by the British military 
and police, and declared that the Irish Volunteers would preserve order. 

In the months preceding his death his home and business prernises 
had been raided by the military or police several times. On one of 
these occasions the raiders made a thorough search of Mrs. MacCur- 
tain's room, three days before one of her children was born and a few 
days after the burial of another. It was alleged before us that rumors 
were prevalent in Cork that the Lord Mayor was to be killed by the 
police. On March 16. four days before the murder occurred, Denis 
Morgan, Chairman of the Urban Council of Thurles, then in Worm- 
wood Scrubbs Prison, London, heard that MacCurtain "had been sen- 
tenced to death by the Royal Irish Constabulary." 

After the death of Lord Mayor MacCurtain the British Adminis- 
tration in Ireland announced that he had been killed by "Sinn Fein 
Extremists." We can discover no basis for this statement. Testimony 
was presented to us that at the inquest the British authorities responsi- 
ble for this charge were directly challenged to produce any evidence of 
the participation of "extremists" in the crime. No such evidence was 
produced nor was the charge officially repeated thereafter. Neverthe- 
less, it persisted in the press while public indignation was at its highest 
pitch. Our record shows that at the inquest a great mass of evidence 
was introduced attaching the responsibility for the crime to the "police." 



THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND 39 

The Coroner's jury held certain British officials, including Inspector 
Swanzy, responsible for Lord Mayor MacCurtain's death. 

Miss Susanna Walsh testified that the home of Lord Mayor Mac- 
Curtain's widow had been raided by Imperial British Forces twenty 
times since the murder. Your Commission had occasion to call the at- 
tention of the British Ambassador at Washington to one of these raids, 
in which Mrs. MacCurtain was reported to have been shot at, and 
which occurred a few days after we had cabled to her an invitation to 
testify before us. 

While we were sitting, a priest named Father Griffin was mentioned 
in testimony as the possessor of a great deal of evidence regarding 
atrocities committed by British forces. A few days 
later he disappeared; and his body was subsequently r^^a^^ 

found in a bog. Death had apparently resulted from 
bullet wounds. During interpellations in the British Parliament, 
brought to our notice concerning this murder, the British press reported 
that Sir Hamar Greenwood, hesitating for a reply, was prompted by 
a whisper, "Say the Sinn Feiners did it," loud enough to be heard in 
the press gallery. According to the newspaper accounts this prompting 
whisper came either from IMr. Winston Churchill, or, according to the 
correspondent of the Nezv Statesman^ London, from Premier Lloyd 
George. 

The phrase "Sinn Fein Extremists" casts doubt on the loyalty of the 
deceased to the Irish Republic, and in the Republican view contains an 
aspersion on his memory. It tends to make Irish Re- 
publicans suspicious one of another. It was invoked ^ remists 
in the murder of a Republican Lord Mayor and of a Republican priest. 
It was also invoked in the burning of Cork. The attention of the Com- 
mission was called by several witnesses to the persistent efforts of offi- 
cials of His Britannic Majesty's Government to create the impression, 
without the offer of evidence, that citizens of Cork had burned their 
own city. 

Lord Mayor O'Callaghan testified, in effect: On the night of De- 
cember 11, 1920, by the military curfew law Cork citizens were forbidden 
to be out of doors, without military permission, be- 
tween the hours of 10 P.M. and 3 A.M. About 9 P.M. Destruction 
the streets were cleared by shots from the British mili- 
tary. The fires began at several points about 10 P.M. in the main thor- 
oughfare of the city. At 3 A.M. another fire was started in the City Hall, 
separated by the River Lee from the 10 P. M. conflagrations. Previous 
attempts had been made to fire the city. During the night in question 
military trucks filled with soldiers patroled the deserted burning streets. 
The fire brigade deposed that they were shot at while attempting to 
extinguish the flames. Exclusive of the area of the City Hall fire, 
about one square mile of the city was burned out. The loss was esti- 



THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND 41 

mated at $20,000,000, Besides the business premises, and the seat of 
the Republican administration with its records, all the premises of the 
Republican political organization were destroyed. 

It may be noted that in his testimony before us Lord Mayor 
O'Callaghan definitely charged the burning of that city to the Imperial 
British forces, but did not offer direct proof to establish this charge. 
He placed in evidence an attested copy of the following telegram sent 
by him together with Messrs. Walsh and De Roiste, Members of the 
Dail Eirann, to Sir Hamar Greenwood, Lord R. Cecil, Messrs. Asquith 
and Henderson, and Commander Kenworthy : 

On behalf of the whole citizens, we absolutely and most empha- 
tically repudiate the vile suggestion that Cork city was burned by any 
action of the citizens. In the name of truth, justice and civilization, 
we demand an impartial civilian inquiry into the circumstances of the 
city's destruction. 

We are quite willing to submit evidence before any international 
tribunal, or even a tribunal of Ehglishmen like Bentinck, Henderson, 
Kenworthy and Cecil. 

Lord Mayor O'Callaghan further testified: 

That demand for an impartial inquiry was supported by the Cork 
Chamber of Commerce, which, as I told you a short time ago, had 
already wired to Sir Hamar Greenwood, Imperial Chief Secretary for 
Ireland, and had asked for protection for their property. Up to then 
the demand for protection had only resulted in increasing the incen- 
diarism, and they sent the following wire : 

"The Cork Incorporated Chamber of Commerce and Shipping 
express their astonishment at the statements made by you in the House 
of Commons with reference to the destruction of Cork. We demand 
that, as Chief Secretary, you make personal investigation on the spot 
of the true facts, when incontrovertible evidence will be placed before 
you, and that a judicial commission of inquiry be set up without delay. 
We claim that all damage be made good out of government funds. 

"The Chamber begs to draw your attention to the fact that on 
November 29th they wired you with reference to incendiary fires oc- 
curring in Cork, and requested immediate protection for citizens' 
property, to which telegram no reply was made by you. 

"(Signed) Danckert, Honorable Secretary." 

That was also adopted by the Cork Harbor Board, on the motion 
of Mr. Benjamin Haughton, one of the Unionist members of the 
Board; and by the Cork Employers' Federation. 

The Imperial British Government ordered an inquiry to be held, 
presided over by Major-General Strickland, in Cork, who was the 
officer commanding in Cork, Major-General Strickland duly reported 
to the Imperial British Government. His report was suppressed by 
that government. 

Your Commission had submitted to it copies of the reports of the 
British Labor Commission and of the Irish Labor Commission, both of 
which bodies, having made a direct and searching investigation, con- 
cluded that the forces of the Crown were guilty of the destruction of 



THE BRrriSH CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND 43 

Cork. The conclusions of these two commissions as to the guilt of the 
Crown forces and the responsibility of the British Government ap- 
pear to us to be given greater weight by the refusal of the British 
Government to permit a civil inquiry, by the secrecy with which the 
military inquiry of General Strickland was conducted, by the suppres- 
sion of the report of General Strickland, and by the admission in the 
House of Commons of Sir Hamar Greenwood, Chief Secretary for 
Ireland, that certain Black and Tans had been mildly disciplined for the 
part they were shown by the Strickland report to have had in the burn- 
ing of Cork. 

"Sinn Fein Extremist" would seem to be a term used exclusively 
by the British. The term is sometimes employed by them to connote 
murderers, and incendiaries, engaged in the destruction of the lives 
and property of Irish Republicans. In the case of the murder of Lord 
Mayor MacCurtain, a British-summoned coroner's jury charged cer- 
tain agents of the Imperial British Government with the crime; and in 
the case of the burning of Cork, General Strickland's military tribunal 
apparently found certain Black and Tans were culpable; though in 
both cases members of the Imperial British Government had averred 
that the guilty parties were "Sinn Fein Extremists." We would depre- 
cate the use of the term "Sinn Fein Extremist" by responsible ministers 
of the Imperial British Government. 

Selected Irish Republicans would appear to have been murdered, 
singly and in numbers, surreptitiously and publicly. In domiciliary 
murders, without notoriety, silence followed. When the position or 
profession of the victim made silence impracticable, the British-made 
"Sinn Fein Extremist" was invoked. When the victim was in British 
custody, the Ley de Fuga acted. And wholesale slaying and destruc- 
tion were justified by the British "reprisals." 

Besides the slaying of selected Republican citizens, and the destruc- 
tion of Republican cities, towns and villages, indiscriminate violence 
also occurred. Miss Ellen Wilkinson of Manchester, 
England, was an e3'e- witness of a shooting expedition, Indiscriminate 

,.,, -r 1 rii or Shooting 

to which she testined as follows: 

Curfew was at ten o'clock. We went to our room. According 
to law no one is supposed to have a light or look out of the window. 
But we turned oiir lights out and wrapped ourselves up and went to 
the window. First ox all there canae the soldiers in extended forma- 
tion, each wearing tin helmets — the shrapnel helmets — and carrying 
guns with fixed bayonets. And then came three armored cars packed 
with soldiers. . . . They went on by and when they came back they 
fired into the houses at a certain level. We saw the bullet marks 
next morning. That, of course, is a terrible thing. Many people 
have been killed on account of this indiscriminate firing from motor 
lorries. ... It lasted from ten till three. 



44 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

Mrs. Agnes B, King, of Ironton, Ohio, testified to the use of 
searchhghts by the Imperial British Forces, in a similar shooting ex- 
pedition witnessed by her. 

It would appear that the Imperial British Forces, in organized 
bodies, on certain occasions, testified to before us, have engaged in in- 
discriminate shooting of the non-combatant Irish people in their homes 
at night. 

WHERE THE RESPONSIBILITY LIES 

It was testified before us that coroner's juries, summoned by the 
Imperial Administration in Ireland, found that Thomas Dwyer of Ragg, 
James McCarthy, Patrick Lynch and Lord Mayor MacCurtain were 
murdered by the members of the Royal Irish Constabulary; John A. 
Lynch and the Buckley youth are alleged to have been assassinated by 
the military. It was deposed that in the case of Nunan the attempt to 
murder was made at the order of an Imperial British soldier ; and that 
in the case of the Buckley youth an officer of His Majesty's regiment 
of Cameron Highlanders was in command of the party. Most of the 
other murders including the Croke Park massacre were attributed to 
"police"' or Black and Tans. 

Your Commission has been impressed by the fact that ordinary civil 
processes early ceased to be invoked by British authority in the investi- 
gation of surreptitious and public assassination of 
Tribunals Irish citizens by agents of, or members of, the Im- 

perial British forces, officers and men, disguised or wearing His 
Majesty's uniform; and that such investigation was relegated to speci- 
ally formed military tribunals, sitting usually in secret.* The British 
military seem to have been at the same time prosecutor, judge, jury 
^and accused. 

The testimony shows that the Imperial British authorities in cases 
such as the burning and slaying in Balbriggan, Thurles, Galway, 
Mallow and other Irish towns, have abstained from punishing the 
forces engaged on the alleged ground that the actual criminals could 



* Lord R. Cecil (House of Commons, 1st November, 1920): When my right 
hon. Friend speaks of inquiries, are these inquiries made in private or public? 

Sir H. Greenwood: Some inquiries are made in private and some in public. 
My own experience in Ireland is that the most effective inquiry is made in 
private. 

Mr. Devlin: From whom does the righit hon. Gentleman make these in- 
quiries? 

Sir H, Greenwood: From those officers and persons who are responsible 
to me for their conduct. (Loc. cit., vol. 134, cols. 27-28.) 

Mr. Kiley (House of Commons, 11th November, 1920) asked the Chief 
Secretary for Ireland whether at every inquiry held into alleged reprisals in 
Ireland there has been present some person with legal training or qualifications; 
and if not, in the case of how many inquiries such a person has been present? 

Sir H. Greenwood: As I have already stated, the inquiries into such allega- 
tions are conducted by responsible police or military officers upon whose 
findings I can rely. (Loc. cit., vol. 134, cols. 1344-45.) 



THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND 45 

not be identified.* It seems improbable to us that the considerable forces 
employed for such expeditions of murder and destruction could absent 
themselves from their barracks, could use military motor trucks to 
transport themselves to the doomed towns, and expend British ammu- 
nition in shooting Irish citizens and gasoline in burning their property, 
and yet could leave behind no discoverable signs of their identity. 

The testimony before us mentions the participation of District In- 
spector Cruise in the Galway reprisal ; of an unnamed officer in the Mal- 
low reprisal; of District Inspector Lowndes and three 
subordinate officers in the reprisal at Ballylorby. The Officers in 

Mallow reprisal is shown to have resulted from a 
concerted military maneuver participated in by troops from Fermoy 
and Buttevant. The Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial British 
Forces in Ireland, General Macready, forewarned, did not prevent this 
military sacking of Mallow. The Imperial British General command- 
ing in Galway commended the assassins and incendiaries in Galway 
City ; incited them to repeat their depredations ; and immediately 
thereafter two more murders occurred there. 

The Restoration of Order in Ireland Act of 1920 would seem to 
give to the Imperial military authorities in Ireland the administration 
of criminal law in set areas there. But this law does not dispense with 
trial; and it gives the military no sanction either for assassination, or 
for the invention of new crimes ; and consequently the penalty attached 
to such crimes is also illegal. There seems no sanction in the published 
civil or military codes of British justice for these assassinations. If the 
Irish are rebels to British authori^ it would seem to us that their 
assassination at least in custody must be contrary to British law. 

Such assassination would seem likewise to be contrary to the as- 
sumption that the Irish are prisoners of war, for it is "^orbidden by the 
Hague Convention. 

And the ethical as well as the legal aspects of the killing of the 
handcuffed Buckley and of the indiscriminate shooting up of sleeping 
towns and football crowds would seem to be defensible by no standard 
of human conduct. 

DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY 

In examining the evidence relating to crimes committed against 
life by the Imperial British forces, we have been continually confronted 
with the question of provocation; but in the destruction of property 



* After describing the murder of two men, the destruction of more than 
twenty houses and a factory at Balbriggan, Sir H, Greenwood (House of 
Commons, 20th October, 1920) said: "I myself have had the fullest inquiry 
made into the case. I will tell the House what I found. I found that from 
100 to 150 men went to Balbriggan determined to revenge the death of a 
popular comrade shot at and murdered in cold blood. I find it is impossible 
out of that 150 to find the men who did the deed, who did the burning. I have 
had the most searching inquiry made." (Loc. cit., vol. 133, col. 947.) 




EXHIBIT 



Wide World Photo 



FIRST OFFICIAL BRITISH REPRISALS, AT MIDLETON, COUNTY CORK, 

MISS COTTER AT THE DOORWAY OF THE RUINED HOME OF 

HER FATHER, MICHAEL COTTER. 



THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND 47 

the question of provocation cannot enter and the prohibitions of law, 
both domestic and international, are precise. If Great Britain is not 
at war with Ireland, there is no conceivable condition that would justify 
the Imperial British forces in destroying the public property of Irish 
cities and towns or private property of Irish citizens — except after due 
process of law, or with the consent of the owners and proper provision 
for damages. 

If a state of war does exist in Ireland, the situation as regards 
wanton destruction of property is unchanged. The Laws of War, as 
set forth in the Hague Convention of 1907, to which the Government 
of Great Britain is a signatory, positively forbid the destruction of 
property, except as a necessary and unavoidable consequence of military 
operations. The prohibitions are particularly explicit as regards private 
property. Article 23 of the Hague Convention declares : 

In addition to the prohibitions provided by special conventions, it 
is especially forbidden — 

(g) To destroy or seize the enemy's property, unless such de- 
struction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities 
of war. 

BURNING OF TOWNS 

We have heard testimony of eye-witnesses to the burning of con- 
siderable areas of the following Irish cities, towns and villages : Cork, 
Balbriggan, Mallow, Galway, Tuam, Feakle, Limerick, Templemore, 
Ennistymon, Lahinch and Miltown-Malbay — all except Cork incon- 
testably burned by Imperial British forces. There has also been placed 
in evidence a document listing all Irish cities, towns and villages alleged 
to have been destroyed in part by the Imperial British forces. This 
list includes towns and cities named above, but, except as to these, there 
is no testimony of eye-witnesses before us. (See map.) 

Save for the doctrine of "reprisal" which has no sanction either 
in the laws of civilized nations defining police power or in the code of 
war of civilized nations, no military necessity has been urged, so far 
as we have been able to discover, in justification of the burning of any 
of the Irish towns regarding which we have had evidence. It is diffi- 
cult to characterize the doctrine of "reprisal" in any other manner ex- 
cept as a relic of barbarism. Yet we have had presented to us evidence 
that this policy was condoned at Balbriggan, commended at Galway, 
and planned at Mallow by officers of the Imperial High Command. 

OFFICIAL SANCTIONS FOR DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY 

A memorandum submitted to us by Counsel for the American 

Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic, states: 

The official sanction for these reprisals is complete, consisting of: 

1. Typewritten notices signed by Brigadier-General Higginson 
served on the occupants of the "marked houses." The text of these 
notices is not available, but their substance is sufficiently indicated by 
the official statement of the reprisals. 



48 AMERICAN. COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

2. The official statement published by order of the Brigade- 
Major at Cork in the Cork papers. This statement is published in 
the Cork Weekly Examiner, January 8, 1921, as follows: 

Official Statement 

We have received the following official statement for publica- 
tion, which was telephoned by the Brigade-Major at Cork: 

As a result of the ambush and attack on the police at Midleton 
and the Glebe House it was decided by the military Governor that 
certain houses in the vicinity of the outrages were to be destroyed, 
as the inhabitants were bound to have known of the ambush and 
attack, and that they neglected to give any information either to the 
military or police authorities. 

The following houses were duly destroyed between 3 P.M. and 
6 P. M. on 1st January: Mr. John O'Shea's, Middleton; Mr. Paul 
M'Carthy's, do.; Mr. Edward Carey's, do.; Mr. Cotter's Ballyadam; 
Mr. Donovan's, do.; Mr. Michael Dorgan's, Knockgriffin; Mr. 
Ahern, do. 

Previous' to the burnings Notice B was served on the persons 
affected, giving them one hour to clear out valuables, but not fur- 
niture. No foodstuffs, corn or hay were destroyed. 

3. An official communication issued by General Headquarters 
in Dublin on January 1, 1921, the text of which, as reported by the 
Weekly Irish Times, January 8, 1921 (page 1), is as follows: 

The following communication was issued by General Head- 
quarters in Dublin on Sunday evening: 

"As a result of an ambush of police on December 29th at 
Midleton, Co. Cork (a martial law area) in which one policeman 
was killed and eight wounded, two of whom have since died, the 
houses of seven inhabitants living in the vicinity, and who were 
bound to have known of the ambush, were destroyed on Saturday 
by order of the Military Governor. 

"The occupants were given one hour's notice to remove their 
belongings." 

INDUSTRIAL DESTRUCTION 

It is worthy of note that, vi^hile the primary motive for the destruc- 
tion of lives and towns seems to be to strike terror into the hearts of the 
civilian population, this motive is mixed with another — to destroy the 
principal industries, presumably for the purpose of reducing to destitu- 
tion and starvation the working classes which are mainly Republican 
in sympathies. 

The destruction of the principal hosiery factory at 
Destruction of Baibriggan was testified to by Mr. John Derham, a 
member of the Urban Council of Baibriggan: 

The factory would be about 500 yards from the nearest burned 
dwelling. There is a railroad embankment passing through our town, 
about 10 to 15 feet high, and it is on the sea side of the embank- 
ment that the factory is situated. You cannot see it from the town. 
It was burned next morning. Totally destroyed; one hundred thousand 
pounds loss. It is owned in London. The manager is an Englishman. 
There is nothing in a political line there. Only to leave destitution in 



50 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

the place. One hundred and twenty people worked in the factory and 
three hundred more in their homes. 

The burning of this factory would seem to have been a deliberatf* 
act, as was the burning at Mallow, where the troops, equipped with 
gasoline sprays, marched a considerable distance from the main portion 
of the town, in order to burn the condensed-milk factory. No military 
necessity for the destruction either of the Balbriggan hosiery factory 
or of the Mallow condensed-milk factory appears in the evidence. 

In addition to the burning down of factories situated in or con- 
tiguous to towns that were burned, the evidence indicates that there 
has been a persistent and concerted attempt on the 
urnmgo ^^^ ^^ ^^^ Imperial British forces throughout Ire- 

Creameries f '^ ,....,, 

land to destroy her one distmctive mdustry, the co- 
operative creamery. 

A majority of the witnesses before the Commission presented evi- 
dence relative to the destruction of creameries, from which we select 
a statement sent to us by Mr. George Russell (^), the celebrated 
writer and one of the leaders of the Irish Cooperative Movement, and 
quote from it: 

The cooperative movement in Ireland has gained world-wide • 
recognition as one of the sanest and most beneficent of national 
movements. Its membership included men of all parties and creeds 
in Ireland, and it is as popular and widely-spread in Ulster as in 
other provinces. Its constitution and the rules of its societies for- 
bade the discussion of political and sectarian matters. On this basis 
many thousands of Unionists were able to join with their Nationalist 
fellow countrymen in an all-Ireland movement for their mutual benefit. 
Over one thousand societies have been created, with an annual turn- 
over now exceeding eleven million pounds. The creameries, bacon 
factories, mills and agricultural stores created by cooperative so- 
cieties are a familiar feature in the Irish countryside. Up to the 
moment of writing, forty-two attacks have been made on cooperative 
societies by the armed forces of the Crown. In these attacks cream- 
eries and mills have been burned to the ground, their machinery 
wrecked, agricultural stores have also been burned, property looted, 
employees have been killed, wounded, beaten, threatened or other- 
wise ill-treated. Why have these economic organizations been spe- 
cially attacked? Because they have hundreds of members, and if 
barracks have been burned or police have been killed or wounded 
in the lamentable strife now being waged in Ireland, and if the 
armed forces of the Crown cannot capture those actually guilty of the 
offences, the policy of reprisals, condoned by the spokesmen of the 
Government, has led to the wrecking of any enterprise in the neigh- 
borhood, the destruction of which would inflict widespread injury and 
hurt the interests of the greatest number of people. I say this has 
been d(me without regard to the innocence or guilt of the persons 
whose property is attacked. [In other paragraphs Mr. Russell effec- 
tively and completely disposes of the allegation that these creameries 
or any of them were Republican arsenals.] 



52 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

Ireland is an agricultural country. The destruction of the cream- 
eries has crippled, if not ruined, one of the principal Irish industries, 

forcing farmers to kill or to sell for slaughter or ex- 
Destruction of port their milk cattle, under most unfavorable condi- 
Crops and tions at whatever the market would bring. An equally 

serious blow has been struck at Irish agriculture by 
the Imperial British forces through the destruction of crops and the 
indiscriminate shooting of live stock. Miss Ellen G. Wilkinson, an 
English woman who made a tour of inspection over a large part of 
agricultural Ireland on behalf of the Women's International League, 
testified as follows : 

When I was in West Clare and Limerick there was a wholesale 
burning of hay ricks. That was extremely important, because on 
the hay ricks depended the cattle, and hence the creameries. And of 
course, in burning the hay ricks you destroyed the very foundations 
of Irish agricultural prosperity. It was said by the British military- 
authorities that these were reprisals against Sinn Feiners; but that 
was not so, because in Pallan and Kenry [sic} in Kildare, which are 
Protestant settleraents, their ricks were burned, too. 

When we went to Limerick we were taken to Brennan's farm, 
five miles out of Limerick. It was owned by a widow. Her two 
sons were heroes in the countryside. One of them, Michael Brennan, 
is chairman of the Clare County Council. Of course, they are both 
on the run. And the English officers, rightly or wrongly, put down 
many of the occurrences in this community to them. So the English 
officers went to the house, told Mrs. Brennan to get out immediately 
and burned the house and the hay. 

In another section of the report we have called attention to testi- 
mony that soldiers passing through the country in motor lorries have 
made a practice of shooting at farm animals along the way. And the 
testimony of John Charles Clark and others shows that considerable 
numbers of livestock have been destroyed by the burning of barns and 
cattle sheds. 

THE BRITISH TERROR IN IRELAND 

Article 46 of the Hague Convention states: "Family honor and 
rights, individual life and private property, as well as religious con- 
victions and worship, must be respected. Private property may not be 
confiscated." The British terror in Ireland would seem to us to violate 
not merely this article but all law of peace and of war, private and 
public, human and divine. In its long continuance, complete organiza- 
tion, ruthlessness and all-pervading character, it would seem to your 
Commission almost without parallel in the practice of civilized nations. 

The testimony of Mrs. Muriel MacSwiney, the Misses Walsh, 
Miss Craven and others allowed us to realize the extent to which the 
sanctity of the Irish home is violated. A total of 48,474 raids by armed 
British on Irish homes in 1920, compiled from official Irish Republican 
sources, was presented to us. These raids would seem to take place 



54 AMF:RICAN commission on IRELAND 

usually in the night; and their avowed purpose seemed to be in part 
to find secreted arms and "wanted" men. 

The men sought by the raiders were said to be "on the run," some 
from arrest; others, as has been shown, from assassination by the Im- 
, u p ». perial British forces. Lord Mayor MacSwiney, "on 

the run," saw his family rarely and by stealth. Lord 
Mayor O'Callaghan testified that he had not been able to enter his dwn 
home for two years. It would appear from testimony already cited 
that the family of a father or husband, son or brother "on the run," 
shared his peril even in his absence. 

And in some places, those who were not "on the run," and the in- 
firm and aged, the women and children, would appear to feel safer in the 

fields than in their homes. Mr. Derham testified that 
Shelter in for a week after the sack of Balbriggan, the towns- 

Cemeteries people "spent the night in the country. They did not 

wait until night to go. When four o'clock, or evening 
came, you would see them going away to the country, stopping in the 
farmer's stables or barns or haylofts or anything they could get, or in 
the ditches. Two-thirds of the people left the town during the week." 

And of a night in Mallow, Mr. Frank Dempsey testified : 

There is a graveyard immediately behind the Roman Catholic, 
Church and behind the Protestant Church, and quite a number of 
women and children spent the night sitting on the gravestones — on 
the tombstones. One woman, Mrs. Connolly, who had a baby about 
three days previous to this — she had to get up out of bed with her 
baby, of course. She got up and took her baby and remained out 
in the graveyard with her baby all night and she got pneumonia and 
died. The baby is alive yet. Another old woman who went to this 
graveyard got sick and died. 

What they feared could be appreciated from Mr. Morgan's testi- 
mony of the experience of his family at Thurles : 

. j^. , . On the twentieth of January, about 11:10, my wife 

„ was in bed and my boy of five years was in the cot. I 

had put out the light and had got ready to go to bed 
when I heard shooting going on in the town. When I heard the shoot- 
ing first I thought it was only isolated shots, and then I heard heavy 
volleys. So I said to my wife, "We must get out of this room imme- 
diately. If there are any stray shots, we shall be in danger." We 
hastily got out of bed and got down to a lower basement where it 
was fairly good protection from the side and also from the front, 
because we were in the back. I went back and got the youngster out 
of his cot. I had to go on all fours lest a bullet should come in. I 
dragged' him down and had to go back for some clothes to cover us. 
All that time the firing was going on heavily. And it got nearer and 
nearer. Just as I got inside the basement with the clothes I heard 
bullets hitting the house. There was a door there facing the street. 
The bullets came in through the hall and swished by the door where 
we were standing. We heard the glass going and the plaster falling 
off the ceiling. I placed my wife and the little boy flat on the floor. 



THP: BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND 55 

We tried to protect ourselves as well as we could. It was a miserable 
cold night. My wife, in her condition, being within two weeks of her 
confinement, was in a terror-stricken state. We lay there. The firing 
continued. The heavy volleys we heard outside seemed to pierce 
every window in the house. Then the firing moved back to town 
again. It lasted altogether about an hour, and it stopped. We re- 
mained in the same position, anxious to know if it would break out 
any more. In half an hour's time it started again, but on the second 
occasion it did not last so long. Only about ten minutes. We could 
not stir from the position we were in because we did not know at 
what moment it would break out again. So that we had to lie on the 
stone floor all night. 

The terror spread to homes not the objective of attack. The Rev. 
Father Cotter gave the following description of an evening in Gal way : 

With the lights out in my room, I peeped out Evenine in 

under the blinds and saw what appeared to be about q , 

two hundred fifty soldiers or police halt at the door of * ^*^ 

the hotel. Immediately after the order "Halt!" came the word "Fire!"; 
so they shot there for several hours through the street, terrifying every- 
one. I left my bed and lay under the window — it was a stone build- 
ing — to escape a possible bullet. 

And the terror would seem not to pass with the night. Daniel T. 
Broderick, an ex-American soldier, testified : 

I have seen them [soldiers] travel along the roads Country 

there, and if a dog barked at their trucks — lorries, as Roads 

they call them — ^that dog would be instantly shot. And 
it was a regular habit of theirs to shoot at houses adjoining the public 
road, and to take pot shot at cattle along the road as they went along. 

Near the cities the highways would seem to hold both the terror 
and the refugees. Mrs. Agnes B. King testified that she went out 
from Dublin: 

I went out to Balbriggan the day before Patrick Lynch was killed. 
It seemed to me that hundreds of Black and Tans were on the road 
going out. As you approached the town, you met the people fleeing. 
Sometimes they were taking all they had with them. I met many 
women with children huddled about their skirts, fleeing from the town. 

The terror that runs on the country roads would seem to abide in 
the city streets. Concerning conditions in Dublin, October, 1920, Mr. 
Denis Morgan testified: 

You might be going down the main streets any qjj Streets 

time of the day and suddenly you hear a shout, 
"Whoop," and suddenly both ends of the street are stopped up. Shots 
are fired over the heads of the bystanders and then everyone is searched. 
Now they are always accompanied by armored cars carrying machine 
guns. The armored cars drive up on the foot path where the people 
stand so that they have to clear out in all directions in order to escape. 
On almost any street of Dublin you can see these armored cars going 
along with bayonets sticking out, and very often they fire shots, ap- 
parently to see the women and people icream and fly in all directions.* 

* Note the bearing of such happenings on the "refusal to halt" and "try- 
ing to escape" shootings. 



THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND 57 

Laurence Ginnell, for many years a member of the British Parlia- 
ment, gave us this picture of the occupied city of Dublin as it was in 
March, 1920: 

The streets were filled with fully armed soldiers marching about 
with fixed bayonets and bombs hanging at their belts. Often tanks, 
even in the daytime, rolled along. Aeroplanes hovered over the city 
of Dublin incessantly. There were soldiers at the railroad stations 
and at most of the bridges leading into the city. The people live in 
a state of military siege. 

The Irish who live in this terror would seem also called upon to 
endure restrictions of their movements. It was stated in evidence that 
7,287 Republicans had been arrested by the Imperial British forces in 
Ireland during 1920; and that the populace still at large were by pro- 
clamation forbidden to enter or leave certain areas, to possess motor 
cars, to travel twenty miles by motor, or to be on the streets after a 
given hour, without military permission. This curfew hour would seem 
t® fall as early as five o'clock in the afternoon, at the whim of some 
Imperial British officer. 

Violation of these ordinances may end fatally. Such restrictions 
deprive the Irish citizens of most organized and unorganized occasions 
of social or community life. 

RELIGIOUS SERVICES 

Several witnesses have given testimony on the practice of stationing 
fully armed soldiers or policeman in the Roman Catholic churches dur- 
ing services. John Tangney, former member of the R. I. C, testified 
(corroborated by Daniel Galvin, ex-R. I. C.) as to orders issued to 
the police by General Deasey in the section of Tipperary where he was 
stationed in May, 1920: 

These orders were that all policemen should go to Mass, in forma- 
tion. The two in front were to take revolvers and the last two were 
to take rifles. The revolvers were to be worn with lanyards. The 
two with rifles were to keep their rifles at the ready with bullets in 
the breech until Mass was over. And when Mass was over they were 
to march through the crowds the same way. And if there was any 
hostility shown, they were to shoot. 

It was testified that religious services were profaned by the pres- 
ence of military patrols in the aisles of churches in Thurles, Clougheen, 
Galway and other places; that churches are surrounded during the 
services and the emerging congregations searched, and worshipers 
assaulted and arrested. 

DEATHS AND WAKES 

There was evidence before us that armed men invaded sick rooms, 
birth and death chambers. Mr. Denis Morgan testified : "There was 
a case at Holy Cross. A girl had died and a wake was being held. 
At a wake in Ireland the neighbors assemble and sit up all night with 
the corpse. At the wake was a poor old simpleton, Mr. Rooney. He 



THE BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND 59 

happened to go out of the corpse house." He was killed outside the 
door. The coroner's jury verdict on Rooney was, "wilful murder com- 
mitted by the armed forces of the Crown." 

FUNERALS 

Funerals in Ireland, according to several witnesses, have a body- 
guard of soldiers that follow the mourners to the grave. Henry Turk, 
American sailor, gave the following testimony on funerals he had wit- 
nessed in Cork: 

There is just one thing I would like to mention, if I could, and 
that is the most pathetic thing I remembered in Cork, in connection 
with the killing of the people over there, is that they usually com- 
bine the funerals. There are three or four of the men buried at one 
time and the bodies are carried along the streets on the shoulders of 
their comrades. They are draped with the Republican colors. Fol- 
lowing the bodies come the mourners, the relatives, and probably the 
members of their society. Then immediately following that is an 
armored car, with machine guns, and three or four lorries of heavily 
armed men. Each one has got a trench helmet on, and guns all leveled 
at the people on the sidewalk and the corners. 

That is not an exception. Every funeral I have seen was car- 
ried on that way. 

Mr, P. J. Guilfoil testified regarding a funeral he witnessed: 

There was the coffin coming up the street and the military on 
both sides of the coffin which was covered with wreaths . . . and as 
they passed the Windsor Hotel where I was staying at, the military 
took their bayonets and threw these wreaths off. 

Mr. Guilfoil also gave testimony regarding the desecration of 
tombs and the prying open of coffins by Imperial British forces, al- 
legedly searching for concealed arms. ._ . 
/ It would seem to your commission that the Imperial British forces j 
have made Ireland a prison; and have organized a terror to harass / 
the citizenry even unto death — and beyond. -^ 



CHAPTER V 

Physical Consequences to Imperial British 
-Forces in Ireland 

AN English witness, Miss Ellen C. Wilkinson, placed in evidence 
before the Commission figures laid before the British Parlia- 
ment recording that approximately 500 members of the Imperial 
British forces had perished between the proclamation of the Irish Re- 
public and November, 1920. Mrs. Annot Erskine Robinson, testifying 
with Miss Wilkinson, on December 1st, 1920, said she understood the 
number to have reached 600. The number was put by one witness as 
low as 232. We have had no reliable means of establishing the accu- 
racy of the British official record, but as presumably it is not an under- 
statement, we are justified in concluding that not more than 600 of the 
Imperial British forces have been killed in Ireland from May, 1916, 
to December, 1920. These 600 casualties would seem to have occurred 
in a force of at least 78,000, in a period of four and one-half years, or at 
the rate of not more than twenty-six hundredths of one per cent, per 
annum.* 

The Imperial British forces in Ireland are the titular custodians 
of "law and order" there, which their "duties" consist in maintaining. 
Evidence of the nature of these "duties" has been presented as well 
as evidence gravely reflecting on the conduct and discipline of the 
Imperial British forces, and in considering the causes of the alleged 
600 British casualties, it would appear to us necessary to stress these 
duties and to emphasize the license which replaces discipline in these 
Imperial British forces. We would also respectfully call the attention 
of our Committee to the invidious use of the words "police" and "con- 



* It is clear from the evidence that Irish resistance has been non-violent to 
a surprising degree. It has found expression among other things in the boycott 
of British governmental agencies and the refusal of the Irish railway men to 
operate trains carrying Imperial British troops. Thereupon the British author- 
ities discharged the men and in many cases virtually discontinued train service. 
This state of affairs continued for many weeks during 1920. According to testi- 
mony of Mr. Dempsey, himself an engineer, the railway union finally receded 
from its position from no selfish motive but because it feared that Ireland suf- 
fered by lack of train service more than the military, who had an abundance 
of motor lorries. The most dramatic examples of non-violent resistance were 
furnished by political prisoners, who carried on repeated hunger strikes to win 
freedom or other concessions from the Imperial British Government. In the 
cases of Lord Mayor MacSwiney and Messrs. Fitzgerald and Murphy the strikes 
were persisted in until death ended them. 

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stabulary" by the British authorities in Ireland, as terms for an armed 
service now exclusively employed on military duty. 

We have considered evidence of eye-witnesses and depositions 
from victims, establishing that the "police" or "constabulary" includes 

in its ranks burglars and highway robbers, gunmen 
"Policeman" ^nd petty thieves. It was testified before us that the 

"Constable" "police" or Royal Irish Constabulary were charged 

by British-appointed coroner's juries with the murders 
of Lord Mayor MacCurtain, and Messrs. Walsh, Lynch, Dwyer, 
McCarthy and Rooney, and others. It was further testified that in 
other cases, murders were committed by these so-called policemen and 
no jury was summoned. In the cases of Galway, Balbriggan and other 
cities and villages these "policemen" added arson and looting to murder. 
The presence of District Inspector Cruise at the "reprisal" in Galway 
and of District Inspector Lowndes at the sacking of Ballylorby, in 
charge of the sacking "policemen" was mentioned in evidence before us. 
The barracking of these "police" with the Black and Tans and their 
cooperation with the military were likewise established. Testimony as 
to orders by their superior officers inciting or commanding them to 
slay and to burn, is before us. In addition, three former members of 
this "police" force, the Royal Irish Constabulary, have appeared as wit- 
nesses before us testifying, and two more have deposed, to the nature 
of their orders, and their duties. These persons have corroborated in 
all essentials the evidence of other witnesses that the words "police," 
"policeman," and "constable" as used by the British in Ireland are mis- 
leading, and tend to reflect dishonor upon that honorable class which in 
other lands maintains "law and order." 

Banal murder is very rare in Ireland. The first witness before the 
Commission, Mr. Denis Morgan, of the Urban Council of Thurles, 
testified that neither murder nor any other major felony had been com- 
mitted in his town during twelve years, and there is a good deal of 
further testimony to the same effect. Ex-Constable Daniel Galvin 
handled only one case of murder in thirteen years. We are, therefore, 
forced to consider that most of the alleged 600 British casualties have 
arisen out of <"he present political situation in Ireland. 

CAUSES OF CASUALTIES SUFFERED BY IMPERIAL BRITISH 
FORCES IN IRELAND 

Mr. John Derham, Commissioner of the town of Balbriggan, testi- 
fied thai Burke, a sergeant of the Imperial British forces, was slain in 
a drunken brawl in a public house (saloon) of Balbriggan on September 
20th, 1920. So far as we can ascertain no civil investigation was made 
of the killing of Burke, the British in Ireland having apparently abdi- 



PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES TO THE BRITISH 63 

cated the judicial function. Further, there was no attempt to arrest 
or even to find the parties to the murder. Instead, a few hours after 
Burke's death Imperial British forces burned, looted and slew in Bal- 
briggan. It would appear from the attitude of the Imperial British 
authorities towards the sack of Balbriggan that the British High Com- 
mand judged the slaying of Burke to be a corporate crime of the citi- 
zens of Balbriggan — a judgment unconfirmed by the evidence before 
the Commission. 

Mr. Morgan testified that Irish Republican police had rescued 
from the vengeance of the people drunken members of the Imperial 
British forces, behaving outrageously. The deaths of Burke and 
others would appear to us to prove that at least some of the slain 
Imperial British forces were victims of their own carelessness and 
drunken aggression. The responsibility for such deaths would seem 
to rest ultimately upon the authority that permits, condones, or en- 
courages drunkenness among the British troops. 

It was testified that a Captain Beattie and an unknown private of 
the Imperial British forces perished as a result of their negfigence in the 
handling of the petrol (gasoline), -with which they 
were kindling the Templemore Town Hall. Against Casualties 

the circumstantial detail of this testimony, and the 
partial corroboration given to it by a minute of the Templemore Urban 
Council, must be placed the fact that the "Imperial British forces took 
vengeance for Captain Beattie's death by renewing their depredations in 
Templemore. It seems clear to the Commission that the risk of fatal 
accident in this case was inseparable from the dangerous duty in which 
this British officer and his men were engaged. The danger inherent in 
such duties, assigned to, accepted or assumed by members of the Im- 
perial British forces, is not attributable to the Irish people. 

Ex-member of the R. I. C. Tangney testified that he and two of 
his comrades were shot at, near Clougheen, by a Black and Tan named 
Richards, whom they had refused to guide to the 
home of a suspected Republican, one Walsh. Evi- CasualtleY^ 

dence submitted to us by certain recent members of 
the Imperial British forces, and corroborated by the testimony of other 
witnesses, indicates that defection from these forces is frequent and 
occasionally is discouraged by the killing or flogging of those who too 
publicly contemplate resigning. D. F. Crowley testified to 500 resigna- 
tions out of 9,000 men, during April and May of 1920, and said that 
after he himself had resigned he had been backed against a wall and 
threatened with loaded revolvers by Black and Tans. A constable 
Farley in Adare was alleged to have been murdered under similar 
circumstances. 

Citizens of the Irish Republic would seem to your Commission not 
blameable for incidental, accidental and disciplinary casualties in the 



PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES TO THE BRITISH 65 

Imperial British forces in Ireland and for casualties incurred under 
circumstances of general violence and terror. Such casualties probably 
amount to a certain percentage of the whole 600 who, it is alleged, 
have been killed. The refusal of the British to present their side 
leaves us with only fragmentary evidence of the causes and occasions 
of death in the remainder. 

Fortified barracks or block houses held by Imperial British troops 
have been attacked, captured, and destroyed, and armed British units in 
trains, motors and other vehicles, and on foot, have 
been assailed by Irish Republican forces. For an Irish R®**^^J" , 
Republican Army drilled, disciplined, and when de- ^*" 

sirable uniformed, already exists, and we have evidence concerning 
one member of it captured in action and subsequently executed by the 
British. It is in these military operations that the greater part of the 
British casualties seem to have occurred. Upon the legality of such 
operations the terms of our commission preclude us from expressing 
a judgment. But if the point of their legality be waived, it would 
appear to us that the Irish Republican forces, in such cases as we have 
been able to examine, have observed the recognized conventions of 
war. In no case have we found evidence of physical violence done 
by the Irish to any member of the Imperial British forces who sur- 
rendered or was captured in arms. Indeed, there is considerable evi- 
dence that such prisoners were treated with humanity, in most cases 
being given their liberty after they were disarmed. 

Besides such casualties incurred by Imperial British forces attacked 
by the armed forces of the Irish Republic, other casualties have been 
sustained by the British in the course of raids made 
by the Irish on barracks. We distinguish this cate- o^^J'** '" 

gory, without being able to estimate its size, chiefly Barrack" 

because the casualties it covers have been in a measure 
incidentally inflicted by men who sought not to slay but to arm them- 
selves for defense. Mr. Morgan testified that a barrack at Littletown 
was attacked and disarmed on a Sunday afternoon without a shot being 
fired. Mr. Francis Hackett estimated that not more than twenty 
"police" had been killed during the British evacuation of 600 barracks. 
On September 27th, 1920, about fifty members of the Irish Republican 
Army surprised the British military barracks at Mallow and demanded 
the supply of arms contained therein. No casualties would have been 
suffered on either side had not five or six men from the garrison escaped 
and begun firing. In the exchange of shots that followed a British 
sergeant-major was mortally wounded, but no one else was injured. 
Mr. Frank Dempsey it will be recalled testified that after the arms had 
been taken from the garrison a doctor and a priest were sent for by the 
Irish Republican troops to minister to the sergeant-major. The bar- 
racks were not burned, nor was any man harmed intentionally, the 



PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES TO THE BRITISH 67 

single purpose of the raid being to secure arms and munitions which 
since 1914 had been prohibited by the British administration to Irish 
Volunteers. The old, law forbidding the possession of arms anywhere 
in Ireland had gone unenforced during 1913, while Sir Edward Carson* 
was organizing and equipping his Ulster Volunteers, but it had come 
rigidly into force in the rest of Ireland a year later when it was dis- 
covered that the Irish Volunteers were claiming an equivalent privilege. 
The responsibility for such deaths, however unintentional, would ap- 
pear to us to rest squarely upon the Irish. It would seem, however, 
that the storing of arms in known places, isolated and inadequately pro- 
tected, on the part of the Imperial British High Command is under 
existing conditions in Ireland almost an invitation to attack. 

Testimony attributes to the Imperial British forces approximately 
48,000 raids, entailing wreckage of property, robbery, murder of citi- 
zens, brutality to priests and women and children, and 
indiscriminate flogging. Many of the raids, by all «^ ^ » °" 

accounts, have been made at night by members of the 
British forces who were dressed in civilian clothing or were otherwise 
unrecognizable as having military business, and so were subject to 
resistance by citizens, as common thugs and house-breakers. In certain 
raids masks have been worn ; in that on Lord Mayor MacCurtain's house 
his assailants had their faces blackened and wore long raincoats and soft 
dark hats. Lord Mayor MacCurtain, incidentally, by the testimony of 
his sister-in-law, Miss Susanna Walsh, had for some time before his 
death been recommending that the Republicans of Cork arm against the 
raiders : "It would not do for armed men to be coming in at all hours 
of the day and night and terrifying women and children." It would 
seem to the Commission that persons engaged in the violation of prop- 
erty rights and personal safety inevitably incur the dangers inherent in 
these tasks, even if they are "policemen" or soldiers, and especially if 
they are disguised. The responsibility for these deaths falls less on the 
Irish people than on the British officers and agents who ordered and 
carried out the duties which' involved the fatal issue. 

Mrs. King gave testimony that in her presence a person dressed as 
a civilian in the railway station of Galway, late at night, without provo- 
cation, suddenly began indiscriminately to shoot down 
unarmed bvstanders. In the attempt to restrain him. Death of 

atter he had killed and wounded persons, he was him- 
self shot. A passer-by with an English accent claimed him as a brother. 
Ex-Constable Caddan stated that Krumm was a Black and Tan. In 
this case it would appear to us that bystanders at Galway were acting 
in conformity with their public duty in attempting to restrain this mur- 
dering Englishman, even at the cost of his life. 

* Vide, p. 95. 



68 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

Testimony mentioned the assassination of District Inspector Swanzy 
at Lisburn. Miss Anna Walsh gave evidence that the coroner's jury 

which investigated the death of Mayor MacCurtain, 

Death of charged Swanzy and others with the murder. The 

District British did not arrest Swanzy, thus duly charged in 

nspec or legal forni. Instead, Swanzy departed from Cork to 

Lisburn. Mr. Francis Hackett testified to being told 
by a responsible member of the Irish Republic that six participated in 
the murder of the Lord Mayor of whom five had been executed by 
assassination, and Swanzy was the sixth. A few weeks after this con- 
versation Swanzy was assassinated. It would seem to us that an armed 
guard, or a public acquittal by a regular tribunal was necessary to the 
protection of Swanzy in Ireland. 

Testimony likewise mentioned the assassination of Divisional Com- 
missioner Smyth. Rev. M. English corroborated by D. F. Crowley, 

John McNamara and Michael Kelly, former members 
Death of of the R. I. C, testified that Smyth had incited the 

Divisional j^ J (^ ^Q gj^QQ^ ^jj 5_:^^ Feiners— "the more you 

Commissioner t n ti t- -\ it 

Smyth shoot the better i will like you. ivelly and Mc- 

Namara deposed that this incitation was delivered in 
their presence. Kelly said : 

During the time I was stationed at Listowell the town was peace- 
able, there were no outbreaks or trouble of any kind. Following a 
change in the military personnel in Ireland, Colonel Smyth was made 
Divisional Commissioner of Police for the Munster Area, early in 
June, 1920. On June 19, 1920, Colonel Smyth visited the R. I. C. 
barracks at Listowell in company with General Tudor, Inspector Gen- 
eral of Police and Black and Tans for Ireland; Major Letham, Com- 
missioner of Police, from Dublin CasUe; Captain Chadwick in charge 
of the military at Ballyruddy, and Poer O'Shea, County Inspector of 
Police for County Kerry. Colonel Smyth addressed the members of 
the R. I. C. in the barracks at Listowell, making substantially the 
following remarks : 

"Well, men, I have something of interest to tell you, some- 
thing that I am sure you would not wish your wives and families 
to hear. I am going to lay all my cards on the table, but I must 
reserve one card for myself. Now, men, Sinn Fein has had all 
the sport up to the present, and we are going to have the sport 
now. The police have done splendid work considering the odds 
against them. The police are not sufficiently strong to do any- 
thing but hold their barracks. This is not enough, for as long 
as we remain on the defensive so long will Sinn Fein have the 
whip hand. We must take the offensive and beat Sinn Fein with 
its own tactics. Martial law applying to all Ireland is coming into 
operation shortly. I am promised as many troops from England 
as I require; thousands are coming daily. I am getting 7,000 
police from England. 

"Now, men, what I wish to explain to you is that you are 
to strengthen your comrades in the out stations. If a police bar- 
racks is burned or if the barracks already occupied is not suit- 
able, then the best house in the locality is to be commandeered, 



70 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

the occupants thrown out in the gutter. Let them die there, the 
more the merrier. You must go out six nights a week at least 
and get out of the barracks by the back door or a skylight so you 
won't be seen. Police and military will patrol the country roads 
at least five nights a week. They are not to confine themselves 
to the main roads but take across the country, lie in ambush, take 
cover behind fences near the roads, and when civilians are seen 
approaching shout 'Hands up.' Should the order be not obeyed 
shoot, and shoot with effect. If the persons approaching carry 
their hands in their pockets or are in any way suspicious look- 
ing, shoot them down. You may make mistakes occasionally 
and innocent persons may be shot, but that cannot be helped 
and you are bound to get the right persons sometimes. The more 
you shoot the better I will like you; and I assure you that no 
policeman will get into trouble for shooting any man, and I will 
guarantee that your names will not be given at the inquest. 
Hunger strikers will be allowed to die in jail, the more the mer- 
rier. Some of them have died already, and a damn bad job they 
were not all allowed to diei. As a riiatter of fact some of them 
have already been dealt with in a manner their friends will never 
hear about. An emigrant ship wiir be leaving an Irish port soon 
with lots of Sinn Feiners on board. I assure you, men, it will 
never land. That is nearly all I have to say to you. We want 
your assistance in carrying out this scheme of wiping out Sinn 
Fein. A man who is not prepared to do so is a hindrance rather 
than a help to us, and he had better leave the job at once." 

Colonel Smyth then asked each one of us individually if he was 
piepared to carry out these orders and cooperate. As each man v/as 
asked the question he referred Colonel Smyth to our spokesman Con- 
stable Mee, whom we had previously appointed in case such a de- 
mand as this were made upon us, as we had heard that the new 
military officials were going to make such a demand. Constable Mee 
stepped from the line and addressed Colonel Smyth: "Sir, by your 
accent I take it that you are an Englishman who in your ignorance 
forgets that you are addressing Irishmen." Constable Mee took off 
his cap, belt and bayonet and laid them on the table. "These, too, 
are English," he said, "and you can have them. And to hell with 
you. You are a murderer." 

At a signal from Colonel Smyth, Constable Mee was immediately 
seized and placed under arrest, and the entire twenty-five of us rushed 
to his assistance and released him. We informed Colonel Smyth that 
if another hand were laid upon our spokesman either then or in the 
future that the room would run red with blood. Colonel Smyth there- 
upon fled into another room, barred the door and remained for sev- 
eral hours. We; sent a messenger in to him to demand a guaranty 
that Constable Mee would not be held to account at any time for the 
remarks made on our behalf, and before he left that day Colonel 
Smyth gave us that guaranty. Afterwards Inspector-General Tudor 
sent out and asked to have an interview with us, and when we said 
we would see him he came out and shook hands with each man and 
told us to keep our heads, that everything was all right. 

There was considerable talk about resignations and fourteen of 
us who were unmarried men turned in our resignations as members 
of the R. I. C. that day. These resignations were not accepted. After- 
wards we fourteen made a signed statement of the remarks of Colonel 
Smyth and sent it to The Freeman's Journal, a newspaper published 



PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES TO THE BRITISH 71 

at Dublin, with the request that an official investigation be made. 
There was considerable demand for an official investigation of Colonel 
Smyth's remarks, but no such investigation was ever ordered or made, 
and the military police and civil authorities did nothing whatever 
about it.* 



While the Commission was in executive session on November 21, 
1920, the press reported the assassination of fourteen British offi- 
cers in bedrooms of hotels and boarding houses in 
Dublin. Later in the same day Imperial British forces Assassination 
fired on a football crowd at Croke Park, Dublin, pre- officer!"^ 

sumably in vengeance for the assassination of the offi- in Dublin 

cers. From attested British press reports placed in 
evidence, it would appear that one Teeling, an Irish Republican, was 
arrested and tried for the murder of one of these officers, a Lieutenant 
Angliss ; and that Angliss was living as a civilian in the house where he 
was slain under the assumed name of Mr. MacMahon. Another was- a 
Captain Baggley, and a third, a Lieutenant Ames, all of the British 
Intelligence Service. Thus it would seem that at least three of the 
British officers slain were part of the Imperial Secret Service in Ireknd, 
and their discriminate assassination seems to indicate a planned attack 
by Irish Republicans on the British Secret Service. 

Mr. Morgan, Commissioner of Thurles, testified that a member of 
the R. I. C. had been slain there. He disclaimed all knowledge of the 
cause and of the perpetrators of this assassination. 
There is also record, though meager, of the assassina- Miscellaneous 
tion of another member of the British forces at Thur- 
les; and of similar incidents at Galway (one), at Feakle (two), at Cork 
(one), at Abbeyfeale (one), and at Miltown-Malbay (one). At the last 
mentioned village a Captain Lendrum was arrested, put to death, and 
sent back to the local British Headquarters in a coffin. We learned 
from testimony regarding the killing of John Sherlock of Skerries, an 
Irish Republican, by British agents, that one Penstraw, who is alleged to 
have acted as guide to the British at the sack of Balbriggan, had been 
assassinated there about a month later. Altogether we have been able 
to trace thirty assassinations of members of the Imperial British 
forces, presumably at the hands of the Irish (five accused with Swanzy 
of the murder of Lord Mayor MacCurtain, Smyth, fourteen officers in 
Dublin, two at Thurles and the others noted). 

"Among the Royal Irish Constabulary," testified Miss MacSwiney, 
"was a division known as the G Division. Their work was purely 
detective work. Since 1916 the police in that G Division were very 
active. They were Irishmen, but that only makes them greater sin- 
ners. The information that they gathered — from girls „ . 
they met and others — led very often to the arrest and ^'^ 
imprisonment of their fellow countrymen. Therefore they were spies. 



* Vide further Apprendices E. and F. 




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PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES TO THE BRITISH 73 

No unarmed policeman has been shot in Ireland unless he has been 
proven a spy. The private correspondence of Lord French, captured 
from time to time, has been conclusive evidence that there are spies 
at work among us." The "overt act" which led to the war on them 
was "the extraordinary activity of the English Secret Service, when 
they started to get information about our people and running them 
down and gathering information about our courts." Miss Wilkinson 
also spoke concerning these spies, and Mrs. Michael Mohan reported 
the detection by Irish Volunteers of "one spy who was getting thirty 
pounds for sending information. And then at night there were police 
going around with rubber soles on their shoes and slipping circulars 
under the doors offering rewards for information. They put them 
under the doors while the people are in bed. They can give their 
own private code and if the information proves satisfactory they 
are paid for it." 

Tangney, an ex-member of the R. I. C, testified to being shot 
at for refusal to guide a Black and Tan to the house of an Irish 
Republican, marked down for assassination. Penstraw was said to have 
been shot as a spy. 48,474 raids were made by armed British forces in 
1920 on Irish homes, and such activity connotes a very active British 
espionage system. 

POLICY OF ASSASSINATION 

The assassination of members of the British Forces began in 
1919, after three years of the British terror in Ireland, and has since 
proceeded intermittently, and still continues. With the exception of 
the shooting of the British ofttcers (one of whom was Lieutenant 
Angliss) in Dublin, on November 21, 1920, the victims of the assassina- 
tions of which we have cognizance were isolated individuals, not groups. 
No women or children, priests or ministers, or prisoners of war seem 
to have suffered. These assassinations have occurred all over Ireland, 
from Lisburn to Cork, from Dublin to Galway. They have been car- 
ried out under the most public circumstances and within the very 
shadow of Dublin Castle, a mockery and a defiance of British rule. 
And officers of high rank in the British system of Imperial authority 
have been numbered among the victims. The assassinations of Swanzy 
and Smyth and the kidnaping of General Lucas seem to indicate to us 
that a nation-wide organization, wth a very perfect secret service, and 
with disciplined men to execute its orders, must have been created in 
Ireland to make such punitive measures possible. There is no evidence 
that this is a British organization. It would seem to exist in spite of 
the British efforts to suppress it and to be continuing to function with 
effectiveness. Under these circumstances it would appear that the 
Imperial authorities are not free from responsibility for the failure 
to take proper precautions to safeguard their officers in Ireland. 

"The British troops," says Mrs. Robinson, "must go about from 
point to point sometimes in quite small bodies. The policemen have 
also done that. And that has made it comparatively simple for a 



74 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

member, say of some secret society in Ireland, if some such society 
exists, or any Sinn Feiner, if lie feels exasperated — it provides op- 
portunity for the murders tha.t have occurred. Many of us have 
felt that it was a very unfortunate method for the distribution of 
the troops in Ireland." 

No political opponent of the Irish Republic is alleged to have 
suffered in person for his opinions. The organization seemingly exists 
for punitive and deterrent assassinations ; and would appear to consist 
necessarily of Irish citizens. Miss MacSwiney and other witnesses 
have testified to the efforts made by Irish leaders to constrain Irish 
citizens to endure in patience and of the success of these efforts for 
three years in spite of increasing terrorism. We have evidence also of 
the difficulties under which the Irish Republic functions, so that it can 
not perfectly protect its own citizens or conduct its proper business. 
It is therefore hard to determine the degree to which the Irish Repub- 
lican Government is responsible for the policy of assassination or 
"execution." The arrest and imprisonment of General Lucas, who 
ordered the shooting of Sinn Feiners summarily with machine guns, 
the rescue of Teeling and the justification of the Dublin killings by a 
responsible Republican leader, would, however, seem to us to indicate 
that the official disclaimer of Irish Republican responsibility must rest 
on a technicality. And the punitive and deterrent assassinations which 
we. have noted would seem to be an organized part of the defense of 
the Irish Republic and a function of its army, or of some special branch 
of it. In this opinion we are strengthened by the placing in evidence 
of an attested copy of The Manchester Guardian of December 13, 1920, 
containing a proclamation alleged to have been issued by the Officer 
Commanding the forces of the Irish Republic in the County of Mo- 
naghan, and dated Headquarters, December 3, 1920 : 

Whereas in several districts in my command armed gangs of 
men patrol the public roads at night and open fife, with murderous 
intent, on people pursuing their ordinary avocation, and 

Whereas one of such gangs has perpetrated a most odious and 
brutal murder, and several others have attempted murder, the public 
must at once realize that Ireland is in a state of war with the forces 
of the British Crown, and, while we extend the hand of friendship 
to all Irishmen, armed murder gangs aggressive to the I. R. A., also 
guides and informers for the enemy forces, shall be summarily dealt 
with as opportunity offers; 

Further, be it known that the recent raids for arms by the I. R. A. 
were carried out in compliance with an all-Ireland Order to collect 
all arms without distinction of the owners' creed or class, in anticipa- 
tion of a general collection by the British Government forces; 

The license to collect only extended for a period of twenty-four 
hours in each brigade, no more force was used than was necessary, 
a receipt v/ill be given for all arms taken, and these will be returned 
when circumstances permit; 

This was made clear at the time to all parties concerned. Con- 
sequently, no section of the people (other than those referred to 



PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES TO THE BRITISH 75 

above) need entertain any fear of interfereiMjp'-with person or prop- 
erty, on the contrary, the I. R. A. recognizes i^s a part of its duty to 
offer protection to all. By order. O. C, Co. Monaghan. 
Headquarters, 3rd December, 1920. 

It has been testified before us that these assassinations are execu- 
tions by Irish Republican agents of justice, implying legal condemnation 
delivered after trial; and that such members of the 

Imperial British forces as are executed in this man- T" * Before 
^ . Assassination 

ner are informers and spies, provocateurs, and mur- 
derers. While evidence of murder of Irish v^omen and children has been 
submitted to us, no transcript of such alleged trials of the perpetrators 
has been offered to justify any of the killings noted by us, of British 
officers; and except in the case of Smyth and to some extent in the 
cases of Swanzy, Angliss and his fellow-officers, and PenstraM^ the evi- 
dence placed before us is too meager to permit generalization as to the 
character or duties of the particular persons slain. 

The absence of the accused, with perhaps the exception of Captain 
Lendrum, from such trials wotild appear to us as regrettable as it is 
usual, and necessarily to condemn the procedure as 
unjust; and even if we admit the presumption of Regrettable Cir- 
guilt, we would still the more earnestly depreca,te ^^ assinations 
these "executions." Their power as a deterrent to 
evil seems to us insignificant when compared with the weakness inherent 
in their haphazard nature. In the Dublin assassinations some of the 
British offixers seem to have been identified merely by the occupancy 
of rooms. 

It would seem that assassination in the presence of relatives occurred 
certainly in the case of one of the British officers in Dublin. The testi- 
mony of the Misses Walsh, Mr, Morgan and others regarding the mur- 
ders of Lord Mayor MacCurtain, Patrick Walsh, James Lynch, John 
Sherlock, the Bantry hunchback boy, Thomas Dwyer, and others shows 
that assassination in the midst of the family was a British practice in 
Ireland. It would appear to us that to copy this British practice in 
Ireland can have the effect only of degrading the Irish people and their 
cause. We would be glad to think that the instance we have mentioned 
of this practice by the Irish is unique and will not be duplicated. 

From the scanty material at our disposal it is difficult to estimate 
the effect of these assassinatioiis upon the Irish cause. Assassinations 
would appear to be an unreliable method of removing 
specific criminals and ending their harmfulness. The Effect of ^ 
gaps left in high places can always be filled. The 
removal of Swanzy and Smyth has brought in more Swanzys and more 
Smyths, ■' '^ ^ 

It would seem to have discouraged certain of the lower ranks. 
The testimony before us shows the resignation of about 5G0 members 



76 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

of the R. 1. C, perhaps not wholly unconnected with the danger of 
their duties, as ex^unded by Smyth, Lucas, Deasey and other com- 
manders. But the places of those who resigned have been filled up by 
Englishmen necessarily less familiar with the country, but as the evi- 
dence showed, seemingly more ruthless. 

According to the testimony of Mr. Ginnell, corroborated by D. F. 
Crowley, a former member of the R. I. C. : 

A reward of ten thousand pounds, or about forty thousand dollars, 
was offered by the English Government in every part of the city of 
Dublin, especially in the poor slums, for certain information and 
for certain men, dead or alive; and the reward was never claimed, 
although hundreds among those people knew where the ma.n named 
could be found. The expression that a man was to be found "dead 
or alive'' meant that he might be shot at sight, and that the reward 
would be given to the person who shot him and produced the body. 
That was the meaning of it. It was an incitement to murder. It 
was a license to kill. 

The fidelity of certain people was doubtless favored and the 
cupidity of spies discouraged by the danger of assassination which 
waited for informers. The security of Irish leaders may thus have 
been enhanced, but at the cost of the security of the general population 
to an extent demonstrably greater than leadership alone could make 
good. Such immediate success as this policy seemed to achieve ap- 
pears to us of doubtful value compared with its demonstrated failure 
l3oth to safeguard the lives of the Irish people in Ireland, and to sustain 
the moral appeal of the Irish cause in other lands. We would point out 
the difficulty of controlling this policy of secret tribunal and summary 
execution ; and the tendency of it to extend its scope to include not only 
enemies but also envied friends of the Irish cause. 

The Imperial British forces in Ireland have suffered three cate- 
gories of casualties, totaling apparently not more than 600: (1) acci- 
dental, incidental, and disciplinary casualties; (2) 
Summary casualties incurred in regular military operations ; and 

(3) casualties due to discriminate assassination. 

Of the casualties in the first category we hold the Irish people 
guiltless. 

The casualties in the second category, inflicted by the Irish in mili- 
tary operations, which they appear to have conducted honorably, and 
upon the legality of which we are debarred from passing, seem to re- 
quire from us only the same expression of our sympathy with the rela- 
tives which we sincerely proffer to all victims of the war in Ireland. 

We hold that the British have incurred casualties in the third 
category, and in so far as those assassinated were spies, provocateurs, 
and murderers, and as such were conscientiously fulfilling their ap- 
pointed duties as British agents, we hold the British Government negli- 
gent in failing adequately to protect its agents to whom it assigned such 




Central News Service 
nolo 

EXHIBIT 26 

CORK REPRISALS. SOLDIERS AND MEMBERS OF THE R. I. C. SAMPL- 
ING THE CONTENTS OF A SHOP BEFORE IT WAS BLOWN UP. 



78 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

dangerous duties. We are of . the opinion that these discriminate 
casualties are sustained at the hands of organized citizens of the Irish 
Republic, acting allegedly as an extra-governmental body at war with 
the special enemies of Irish peace and security. But in so far as the 
Government of the Irish Republic is responsible for the acts of its citi- 
zens, it would seem to us to be responsible for these deplorable assassi- 
nations, and to suffer because of them in the public opinion of the 
world. 

We further find that in the four years since the Irish Revolution, 
the British casualties have averaged not more than twenty-six hun- 
dredths of one per cent, per annum of the forces engaged and in no 
year exceeded 3 per 1,000 of these forces. These figures would seem 
to us to indicate a spirit of restraint in the Irish people. 



CHAPTER VI 

Moral Consequences to the Imperial 
British Forces 

THE IMPERIAL BRITISH SOLDIER 

IT would appear to your Commission that the official campaign of mur- 
der, arson, and repression has had an unfortunate effect upon the 
moral fiber of the forces engaged in it. Lord Mayor O'Callaghan 
and others testified that it has been fashionable for the soldiers and 
police, careering through the cities and villages, to hang over the sides 
of the lorries, their rifles pointed at the passers-by. Apart from any 
deliberate intention to shoot the citizenry, this bullying practice would 
seem to us contrary to British tradition. Deaths result from it. And 
someimes these deaths seem scarcely accidental. 

Mr. Broderick of Chicago was in Abbeyfeale when a passing Black 
and Tan killed two boys leading their cows to pasture. The shooting of 
Mrs. Quinn, an expectant mother, we mention, but re- 
frain from discussing because it was deplored by Brit- Murder 
ish authority.* 

Numerous examples of wanton slaying or wounding were brought 
before us, including the shooting even of dumb animals, dogs and 
cattle. 

At the sack of Balbriggan, according to the testimony of Mr. John 
Derham, one of the places burned was a dairy run by a Mrs. Cochran. 
When the raiders entered, Mrs. Cochran ran into 
the yard leaving behind her two little boys of ten and epravi y 

twelve years. The Imperial "police" made the boys dress and took 
them through the house to witness the smashing of household effects. 



* "Mr. Mosley (House of Commons, November 25th, 1920) asked the Chief 
Secretary for Ireland whether Mrs. Eileen Quinn, of Kiltartan, County Galway, 
was killed by a shot fired from a passing poMce lorry on 1st November, 1920, 
while sitting on a wall in broad daylight wii' a child in her arms; whether 
he will state the distance between this wall and the road from which the shot 
was fired; whether the position of Mrs. Quinn at the time she was shot was 
in full ■view of the^road; whether the police occupying the lorry in question 
were called as witnesses at the court of inquiry; how many rounds of am- 
munition were fired by the occupants of this lorry in the course of their jour- 
ney; and how far away was the nearest point at which murders of soldiers and 
policemen had occurred to the scene of Mrs. Quinn's death. 

"Sir H. Greenwood: A military court of inquiry was held into this deplor- 
able afi'air and found that the cause of death was misadventure. I am not pre- 
pared to reopen the inquiry by entering into a discussion :of points of evidence all 
of which were fully considered by the court." (Loc. cit., vol. 135, cols. 619-620.) 

79 



MORAL CONSEQUENCES TO THE BRITISH 81 

After this sport, they led the children down the street "to see Der ham's 
house afire." Then they took them back to their own yard and told 
them to sit on a hay rick there "to warm themselves." The "police" 
thereupon poured petrol over the rick and set fire to it, and then burned 
down the Cochran house. 

The degrading effect of their duty upon the criminally-minded 
among the Imperial British forces has led to innumerable assaults upon 
priests, women, children and the aged. Miss Anna 

• • r^lofifcrinfif 

Walsh testified that pedestrians had come runnmg mto 
her store at Cork to escape from Black and Tans who were scourging 
the passers-by. In Queenstown, John Charles Clarke, an American, 
witnessed the flogging, to the effusion of blood, of Irish citizens by a 
khaki-clad person. Thomas Nolan testified that from the house he 
stayed at in Gal way a young man was taken out by soldiers and flogged. 
And an editorial from the Manchester Guardian of October 19, 1920, 
was placed in evidence, concerning the stripping and flogging by uni- 
formed British soldiers of more than a score of the villagers of Corofin 
and Cummer in Galway. 

Besides encouraging brutality, the "duties" of the Imperial British 
forces in Ireland seem destructive of British honesty. The testimony 
before us shows that for some time thieving has been Thievine 

a common activity of the British forces in Ireland. 

Daniel J. Broderick (American) testified to seeing three Black 
and Tans help themselves to liquors, cigarettes and food in a public 
house kept by a widow, a Mrs. Macauley, in Abbeyfeale. "They told 
the woman, as they left, that she should be glad they did not take the 
till." 

John Derham, Town Councillor of Balbriggan, in his testimony 
on the wrecking of that town by the police, stated : 

Two grocery stores they looted and razed; threw the Pillage 

tea and sugar and soap and candles and everything on 
the floor about three feet high; tramped over it; and pulled things 
out in the passage to destroy what they did not set fire to. 
Lord Mayor O'Callaghan testified that houses raided were com- 
monly looted. In Cork he stated that from the beginning of the year up 
to December 10th, 1920, apart from places aboslutely 
destroyed, "at a very moderate estimate" fifty estab- °° *"^ 

lishments had been attacked and looted by the Imperial forces. Miss 
Susanna Walsh testified that a few days after Lord Mayor MacCurtain's 
death his business establishment was looted by the military. 

The prevalence of this practice would almost seeni to indicate that 
it was not discouraged by those in authority. Indeed, the looters some- 
times arrived provided with vehicles to transport their 
spoil, and openly carried it off. Miss Craven testified Transporting 

to the looting of Michael Walsh's house and shop at 
Galway by raiders a few nights before he was murdered. "They 



MORAL CONSEQUENCES TO THE BRITISH 83 

destroyed practically everything. They had lorries outside, and they 
took the tobacco and cigarettes and sugar and candles and different 
things like that. They also took the liquors." 

The loot was occasionally a perquisite of murder. Thomas Nolan 
of Gal way, who was with Walsh the night he was killed, testified that 
some of the men who took Walsh away came back to the murdered 
man's home and made off tvith Walsh's overcoat and a liberal supply 
of cigarettes. 

Sean Courtney of Cork sent a sworn statement that his house was 
raided at 2 A. M. on October 28th, 1920. He was idragged out by men 
who threatened to kill him. When he was allowed to go he returned 
to his home and found it had been looted. Silver and household 
articles had disappeared. 

In the following instance, an officer interrogated the householder 
while his men removed her goods. Mrs. Eamon Coughlin of Cork, wife 
of Alderman Coughlin, made a sworn statement of a raid on her home 
and shop by the military at 4:45 A. M., November 27th, 1920. "I 
found the following goods missing, looted of course by his companions 
downstairs while the leader was questioning me : About £20 to £25 
worth of cigarettes, about £7 worth of tobacco, and various other things, 
such as cocoa, etc." 

Wiien complaints were made to the competent military authority, 
assurances were sometimes received in lieu of restitution or redress. 
The sworn statement of Mrs. George O'Grady of 
Rochestown, County Cork, told of a raid on her home ssurances 

by police and military, March 20th, 1920. She kept poultry and her 
season's egg money, £63, was all taken. Her husband deposed that he 
complained to Sir Hamar Greenwood, to the General Officer Command- 
ing in Cork, and to General Macready, about the robbery, and received 
assurances from all three that nothing had been touched in the house. 

And sometimes to the value of such assurances, another raid was 
added. Timothy Horgan of Cork sent a sworn statement of a raid on 
his barber shop by the military, August 29th, 1920. All his razors were 
stolen, money equivalent to $18 and other articles to a total value of 
$290. In reply to his complaint to the military commander, he received 
the written assurance of an Imperial British Staff Captain that noth- 
ing had been taken. His home was then raided September 13th, and 
jewelry and other articles stolen. 

. A not uncommon form of robbery was practiced on men assaulted 
and dragged from their homes, during raids. A typical instance of this 
was described by Miss Craven of Washington, D. C. Robbing 
Miss Craven was visiting her parents at Headford, Prisoners with 
County Galway, when Black and Tans raided the house Violence 
at noon on September 17th, 1920, and dragged away her younger 
brother, who was not connected with the Sinn Fein organization, though 



84 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

an older boy was a Volunteer. His parents found him on the road later, 
beaten and bruised, with two of his teeth knocked out. His watch and 
seventeen shillings had been stolen. During the raid some money and 
small gold pins were stolen in the house. 

The habit of looting and robbing the raided in their homes seems to 
have inculcated the practice of highway robbery. According to the 
testimony, it was an ordinary event in several cities, par- 
R*bb^*^ ticularly Cork, for pedestrians to be held up and robbed 

on the streets by soldiers or police. Lord Mayor 
O'Callaghan testified that the Black and Tans were particular offenders 
in this respect: "Passing on the streets, these men challenge the passers- 
l)y and order them to hold up their hands while their pockets are gone 
through. In many cases all the contents of their pockets are stolen, 
any money especially." 

A sworn deposition of a typical highway robbery was presented 
to the Commission from John Creed, 56 Grattan Street, Cork. On the 
evening of December 10th, 1920, he was held up by two men wearing 
light raincoats and soft felt hats — the ordinary mufti of the Black and 
Tans. They carried revolvers, and pointing them at him they demanded 
"Hands up !" and searched him, taking nearly $100 which he had on 
his person. The man who took the money had a decided English 
accent. 

Highway robbery would seem to have been part of the regular daily 
routine of some of the Imperial British forces. Harold Johnson, 
American sailor on the steamship Westcannon, testi- 
fied that the hold-ups in Cork would start about 3 :30 
Highway in the afternoon. He used to go out to watch them. 

Stated*"Hours Eniil Pezolt, his shipmate, an American, testified that 
he was held up and beaten by Black and Tans on the 
evening of the big fire ; his watch, about $30 in money, 
and even his seaman's passport were stolen. 

John Charles Clarke, American, testified to seeing men in the R. I. 
C. uniform holding up women at the pistol's point and searching them 
on the streets of Cork. He saw these "police" pull rings 
Robbing Qfi women's fingers and he saw one of them tear the 

ear-rings from a woman's ears. One of the women 
thus held up was crying, and Mr. Clarke testified that the "policeman" 
pointed his gun at her saying: "Shut up or I will give you the con- 
tents." 

Daniel J. Broderick, an American, told of a raid on the house of a 
Mrs. Hartnebt at Abbeyfeale. Her boy was in bed ill on the upper floor 
Assaults on while the soldiers wrecked the lower story and set the 

Women house on fire. Before leaving one of the soldiers struck 

Mrs. Hartnel)t over the head with the butt of a rifle. Mr. Broderick 
saw the wound. It was three or four inches long. 



86 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

b 

The testimony shows that women and girls have been searched 
by members of the Imperial British forces, the privacy of their bed- 
rooms has been invaded in the dead of night, and their hair cut off; 
but in no case has the crime of rape been specifically charged by Irish 
witnesses before us against the Imperial troops. The fact that for four 
years and a half an army of at least 78,000 British has been occupying 
Ireland without provoking charges of major sensual offences against 
Irish women is remarkable. It would seem to us the one bright spot 
in the darkness of war. And it would appear the more remarkable when 
that army is proved to contain di^unkards, highway robbers, gunmen 
and petty thieves. It would seem to your Commission that the credit 
for the sparing of Irish womanhood must be attributed at least in part 
to the officers commanding the Imperial British forces in Ireland. 
Only a drastic ordinance against sexual crime could be powerful to re- 
strain some of the criminals which that aimy demonstrably contains. 
It would seem a regrettable corollary to the credit we would like to 
extend to the Imperial British High Command for controlling the sen- 
sual licentiousness of its men, that we would need equally to hold it 
responsible for the crimes the men are permitted to indulge in, some- 
times even in the presence, if not with the connivance, of subordinate 
officers. .- 

IMPERIAL BRITISH OFFICERS 

The morals of the British officer would appear to us to have suf- 
fered less than those of the rank and file.* The officers seem more 
sober than the men. John Tangnay, a former member of the R. I. C, 
testified that County Inspector Lowndes and the two young military 
officers in charge of the party that raided Ballylorby "got stupidly 
drunk." But Mr. Dempsey testified that the officer at the sack of Mal- 
low remained sober. The officers were also more honest. In one case 
testimony was adduced concerning a British Major stealing £75. In 
many instances robberies were committed by troops under the command 
of officers, and in some cases looting seemed to be specifically directed, 
and controlled by officers. The testimony concerning this aspect of the 
British officers' behavior is, however, too fragmentary to allow us justly 
to form general conclusions. 

It was, however, clearly proved that in many cases the known 

sportsmanship of the British officer had become degraded by his 

"duties." We have the deposition of Sean Murphy 

Assault on Hunch- of Brandon concerning his interview with James 

D*^h u^rS''^^ Murphy, a hunchback, who declares that three British 

British Officers ^^ , , . , , , i • • • i 

officers beat him and attempted to hang him in a raid 
on his home at 5 :30 A. M., November 10, 1920. In his deposition Sean 
Af urphy states : 

* The Auxiliaries, called Cadets, are mostly ex-officers, serving in the ranks. 



88 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

James Murphy is a little hunchback who resides with his sister 
who is not very strong. I saw the shirt which he was wearing that 
morning. It was completely clotted with olood on the front and 
back. I also saw the piece of rope. He was in bed when I saw him 
and his nose was very badly torn. He complained of pains in his 
head and back, and as a result of his treatment he is very nervous. 
I know James Murphy personally. He is a very quiet, inoffensive 
man. . 

Lord Mayor O'Callaghan presented the written statement of 
Thomas Hale, of Knockscuwa, near Bendon, County Cork, who with a 
Torturine "^^" named Harte, was arrested July 7th, 1920. Hale 

Prisoners States : 

When I was undressed they strapped my hands behind my back 
with leather straps, and put them around my neck and mouth. Harte 
was also strapped in a similar position. I was not in a position to 
defend myself, and Lieutenant A. hit me several times in the face and 
on the body. Captain B. said, "You have some documents from the 
Adjutant General per Michael Collins." They dressed me again, tied 
my hands behind my back with leather straps, and also dressed Harte. 
Captain B. said, "You will be shot." They put straps around my legs 
as well as round Harte's legs. 

Eventually the two men were tied together and marched to a lorry, 
prodded by bayonets. Harte stated that he was hit in the nose by a gun- 
butt. They were taken to the barracks in Bendon and then assaulted 
several times. Harte had several teeth knocked out. They were lined 
up, as if to be shot, but were beaten instead. In the course of tr)dng 
to extract information from them about certain Republican leaders. 
Captain B. got a pair of pliers. Hale's statement continues : 

Captain B. said, "What position does your brother John hold and 
where is he staying?" I said, "I refuse to give you any information 
about him." He then turned to the officer whom he sent for the pliers, 
and he started bending and twisting my fingers at the back. 
He gripped them at the back, placing one portion of the pincers 
against one side of my nail and the other portion of the pincers 
against the other. He brought the blood to the tops of several of 
my fingers, and for some time afterwards my fingers were black on 
the tops, owing to congealed blood there. I was feeling extremely 
weak, almost fainting, and the blood was dropping down my legs. I 
was asked several questions about other individuals and about military 
matters, but refused to give any information. 

Captain B. also put the pincers on my thighs, but my senses 
were becoming quite numb. 

Another officer then untied my hands and told me to pull up my 
trousers, I did so and my trousers were sopping wet with blood. 
Captain B. said, "The Court is elosed for the finding." He said, 
"Stand up," as my knees were somewhat bending, "and we will see 
what a Tommy can do to you." I was hit several times in various 
parts of the body, but especially in the face, and he broke the four 
teeth in my upper jaw. I was then knocked down on the ground. I 
was absolutely exhausted and nearly fainted, and my senses were 
beginning to go. He hit me on several occasions while I was on the 
ground. After a few minutes one of the officers said, "That's enough." 




Dublin Evening Telegraph 



EXHIBIT 31 



LACERATED BACK OF A YOUTH FLOGGED BY CADETS WHILE A 
PRISONER AT PORTOBELLO BARRACKS, DUBLIN. FOR PUB- 
LISHING THIS PHOTOGRAPH WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE 
IMPERIAL ARMY AUTHORITY, THE EDITOR WAS SEN- 
TENCED TO TWO YEARS' IMPRISONMENT BY A 
MILITARY TRIBUNAL. 



90 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

I was then dragged up, and led out of the room. My hands had not 
been retied since they had been undone in order to lift up my trousers. 
When I got outside my hands were tied up again and the straps 
fastened round my neck and face. Five or six soldiers hit me. 

An attested copy was submitted to us of the following deposition 
alleged to have been made by Kevin Gerard Barry, medical student, 
■Torture Before hanged for alleged participation in an attack on -the 
Hanging Imperial British forces : 

County of the City of Dublin to wit: - 

I, Kevin Barry, of 58 South Circular Road, in the County of the 

City of Dublin, medical student, aged 18 years and upwards, solemnly 

and sincerely declare as follows: 

1. On the 20th day of September, 1920, I was arrested in Upper 
Church Street, in the City of Dublin, by a sergeant of the 2nd Duke 
of Wellington's Regiment, and was brought under escort to the North 
Dublin Union, now occupied by the military. I was brought into the 
guardroom and searched. I was then removed to the defaulters' room 
by an escort with a sergeant-major. The latter and the escort be- 
longed to the First Lancashire Fusiliers. I was then handcuffed. 

2. About a quarter of an hour after I was placed in the De- 
faulters' Room two Commissioned officers came in. They both be- 
longed to the First Lancashire Fusiliers. They were accompanied by 
three sergeants of the same unit. A military policeman who had been 
in the room since I entered it remained. One of the officers asked my 
name, which I gave. He then asked for the names of my companions 
in the raid or attack. I refused to give them. He tried to persuade 
me to give the names, and I persisted in refusing. He then sent a 
sergeant out of the room for a bayonet. When it was brought in 
the sergeant was ordered by the same officer to point the bayonet 
at my stomach. The same question as to the names and addresses 
of my companions was repeated, with the same result. The sergeant 
was then ordered to turn my face to the wall and point the bayonet 
to my back. I was so turned. The sergeant then said he would run 
the bayonet into me if I did not tell. The bayonet was then removed 
and I was turned round again. 

3. The same officer then said to me that if I persisted in my 
attitude he would turn me out to the men in the Barrack Square, and 
that he supposed I knew what that meant with the men in their present 
temper. I said nothing. He ordered the sergeants to put me face 
down on the floor and twist my arm. I was pushed down on the floor 
after my handcuffs were removed by the sergeant, who went for the 
bayonet. When I lay on the floor one of the sergeants knelt on the. 
small of my back, the other two placed one foot each on my back and 
left shoulder, and the men who knelt on me twisted my right arm, 
holding it by the wrist with one hand while he held the hair with the 
other to pull back my head. The arm was twisted from the elbow 
joint. This continued, to the best of my judgment for five minutes. 
It was very painful. The first officer was standing near my feet, and 
the officer who accompanied him was still present. 

4. During the twisting of my arm the first officer continued to 
question me as to the names and addresses of my companions, and also 
asked me for the name of my company commander and any other 
officer I knew 




Photo Dublin Weekly Freeman 

EXHIBIT 32 
I KEVIN GERARD BARRY, MEDICAL STUDENT, HANGED FOR TAKING 
PART IN AN AMBUSH AND TORTURED BEFORE HIS 
EXECUTION BY BRITISH MILITARY. 



92 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

5. As I still persisted in refusing to answer those questions I 
was let get up, and I was again handcuffed. A civilian came in and he 
repeated the questions, with the same result. He informed me that if 
I gave all the information I knew I could get off. I was then left in 
the company of the military policemen, the two officers, the three 
sergeants, and the civilian leaving together. 

6. I could certainly identify the officer who directed the pro- 
ceedings and put the questions. I am not sure of the others except the 
sergeant with the bayonet. My arm was medically treated by an 
officer of the Royal Army Medical Corps, attached to the North Dublin 
Union, the following morning, and by the prison hospital orderly after- 
wards for four or five days. 

7. I was visited by the courtmartial officer last night, and he 
read for me the confirmation of sentence of death by hanging, to be 
executed on Monday next, and I make this solemn declaration, con- 
scientiously believing same to be true, and by virtue of the Statutory 
Declaration Act, 1835. 

Declared and subscribed before me at Mountjoy Prison, in the 
County of the City of Dublin, this 26th day of October, 1920. 

MILES KEOGH, 
A Justice of the Peace in and for the said County. 
#^ KEVIN GERARD BARRY. 

An officer of the Cameron Highlanders was in charge of the party 
that murdered the Buckley boy, a handcuffed prisoner^ Inspector Cruise 
led the party that terrorized Galway and murdered Quirk. Testimony 
has shown that Inspector Smyth and Generals Lucas and Deasey ordered 
indiscriminate and summary slaying of Sinn Feiners, who comprise over 
eighty per cent, of the whole population. 

IMPERIAL BRITISH HIGH COMMAND IN IRELAND 

These officers presumably acted under the direction of the Im- 
perial British High Command. There is no testimony before us con- 
cerning the personal morality of those in command of the Imperial 
Forces in Ireland. But the code by which their public acts are tested is 
the Hague Convention, by which civilized armies are supposed to be 
governed. In their warfare on the Irish Republic, the British High 
Command would appear not to recognize that convention, as determining 
their conduct. 

The Hague Convention specifically forbids the use of hostages. 
The following notice was placed in evidence : 

Notice 

Notice is hereby given that on account of the numerous 

^*® °* attacks which have been and are being made by rebel 

Hostages forces on motors and lorries, conveying forces of the 

Crown, officers and leaders of the rebel forces (commonly known as 

the Irish Republican Army) will in future be carried in government 

motors and lorries. 



MORAL CONSEQUENCES TO THE BRITISH 93 

Given under my hand, at Cork, 

this eighteenth day of December, 1920. 

(Signed) H. W. HIGGINSON, 

Brigadier General, 

Military Gov. 

The "hostages" thus carried, it was testified, included the Mayor of 
Kilkenny and Colonel Maurice Moore, late of the British Army, v^ho 
was for a time recruiting ofificer in Ireland for the British and who lost 
a son in the war. The following editorial from the London Daily 
Herald of December 21, 1920, was placed in evidence: 

The " Hostages " 

On Saturday night three Sinn Fein prisoners, in custody at Cashel 
police barracks, were taken out by the military in a motor lorry. 
During the journey two of them were shot dead. 

On Sunday night, notices were issued by the military governors of 
Cork and Kerry (presumably also of Tipperary) that "on account of 
the numerous attacks which had been and are being made by rebel 
forces on motors and lorries conveying forces of the Crown, officers 
and leaders of the rebel forces commonly known as the 'Irish Re- 
publican Army' will in future be carried in Government motors and 
lorries.'" 

That carrying of "hostages" as a safeguard against attack is an 
old device of the Boer war — denounced in those days by Mr. Lloyd 
George a.nd his colleagues as a barbarity and a breach of the laws 
of war. 

But what has it to do with the death of these two men at Cashel 
twenty-four hours before the order was issued? By whose orders 
and for what reason were they taken on their tragic journey? And 
who shot them? One must stretch credulity to believe that there 
was an ambush, that Sinn Feiners fired on the lorry and by a miracle 
shot the two Irishmen stone dead while not a soldier was touched^ 

All that is clear is that once more prisoners have been shot while 
in the custody of the military. On previous occasions the Govern- 
ment story has been that they were "attempting escape." On this 
occasion, apparently, it is to be that they were "hostages." 

But what the Government says is not evidence. The only sure 
fact is that these men were prisoners, and that they have been shot. 

Again we challenge an impartial inquiry. 
We have also had submitted to us other proclamations by the 
Imperial British High Command. One groups the male citizens of 
certan districts, allotting to each group an area ; those in the given group 
are held responsible if the Imperial British forces sufifer casualties in 
its allotted area. 

Another proclamation, from the same source, ordains that any one 
harboring a rebel will suffer death. This proclamation makes death 
the penalty even for a mother who harbors her son in her home — if he 
is a Republican; and eighty per cent, of the people are Republicans: 

(d) That a state of armed insurrection exists, that any person 
taking part therein or harboring any person who has taken part 
therein, or procuring, inviting, aiding or abetting any person to take 



MORAL CONSEQUENCES TO THE BRITISH 95 

part therein, is guilty of levying war against His Majesty the King, 
and is liable on conviction by a Military Court to suffer DEATH. 

This proclamation would seem to us to be directed not only against 
Irish womanhood, but also against the memory of the noblest of Eng- 
lishwomen, Edith Cavell, shot for harboring persons levying war against 
His Majesty the Kaiser. The British High Command would appear 
to make the heroism of Edith Cavell a crime and to confirm her sentence. 

Death penalties imposed by proclamation, for those who carry or 
possess arms, for those who have information and neglect to make it 
known to the British Imperial Forces, and for kindred crimes, have 
been brought to our notice. The following attested excerpt from 
The Weekly Freeman, Dublin, February 5, 1921, was placed in evi- 
dence : 

An official communique issued from Victoria Barracks, Cork, on 
Tuesday, states: "Cornelius Murphy was tried at Cork on January 
17 by a military court for an offence against martial law, and he was 
charged with being at Ballydaly on January 4 in improper possession 
of arms and ammunition, namely, a loaded revolver. 

"The Court found Cornelius Murphy guilty and sentenced him 
to suffer death by being shot. The finding and sentence of the Court 
were duly confirmed by the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, 
Ireland. The sentence was duly executed at 8:01 A. M. on Febru- 
ary 1." 

Failed to Inform 

At the same Court, Denis Murphy was charged with having failed 
to inform the Competent Military Authority of the fact that his 
brother, Cornelius, had firearms and ammunition. Accused denies 
that he was aware of the fact. 

Sentence in the latter case does not appear to have been pro- 
mulgated. 

And to these excerpts, by way of contrast, counsel for the American 
Association for the Recognition of the Irish Republic added the follow- 
ing, attested as taken from the London Nation of February 5, 1921 : 

And now, men, keep your arms, no matter what happens. I rely 
upon every man to fight for his arms to the end. Let no man take 
them from you. I do not care who they be or under what authority 
they come. I tell you, "Stick to your arms." — [Sir Edward Carson 
at an inspection of the Ulster rebels, June 6th, 1914.] 

Sir Edward Carson was made a member of the Imperial British 
Cabinet, and is today alleged to be a chief instigator of the Imperial 
British policy in Ireland. 

It would seem to us that the British High Command scarcely 
recognize the authority of the Hague Convention, Their proclama- 
tions appear to indicate that their military failure to suppress the Irish 
Republic has already driven their conduct beyond the boundaries of 
conventions. 



96 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

IMPERIAL BRITISH GOVERNMENT IN IRELAND 

Attested utterances, from official sources, of Ministers of His 
Majesty's Government have been placed in evidence, and we have cited 
several of Sir Hamar Greenwood's statements in the course of this 
report. These would seem to us to indicate a moral tone regrettable 
in a public official of a civilized people. We would particularly em- 
phasize his explanation of the death of Mrs. Ellen Quinn, the expectant 
mother who was shot wantonly by the military ; of his inquiries by 
military tribunals into the crimes ordered and committed by the military ; 
of his failure to arrest the miscreants who sacked Balbriggan, and his 
condonation of the Croke Park massacre. There has been placed in 
evidence the following attested excerpt from the London Nation of 
January 29, 1921 : 

One of the most important of these documents is the Weekly 
Summary. This, it will be explained, is a paper which Sir Hamar 
Greenwood established as a means of keeping up the spirits of his con- 
stables. These constables were men enlisted by the medium of an 
advertising agency for ex-soldiers who could not find employment in 
England. The Weekly Summary will be the most important docu- 
ment that the historian can use for showing the spirit which Sir Hamar 
Greenwood wished to introduce and maintain in a body of men armed 
with such powers as no British force had exercised since 1798. Let 
us note a few of the extracts that were chosen for publication in this 
paper. A number of them are threatening resolutions attributed to 
persona spoken of as "The Anti-Sinn Fein Society." 

If in future any member of His Majesty's Forces be mur- 
dered, two members of the Sinn Fein Party in the County of Cork 
will be killed. And in the event of a member of the Sinn Fein 
Party not being available, three sympathizers will be killed. This 
will apply equally to laity and clergy of all denominations. In the 
event of a member of His Majesty's Forces being wounded, or an 
attempt made to wound him, one member of the Sinn Fein Party 
will be killed, or if a member of the Sinn Fein Party is not availa- 
ble, two sympathizers will be killed. — [This was literally carried 
out a few weeks later.] 

A fair warning to Sinn Feiners and sympathizers. Lisburn 
will claim not an eye for an eye, but three or more lives for either 
the murder of or injury to any local member of the Royal Irish 
Constabulary or Auxiliary Forces. 

Notice 

If G. Hogan is not returned by 4 o'clock to-day (Friday), 
10th December, rebels of Cork, beware, as one man and one shop 
shall disappear for each hour after the given time. 

(Signed) B. and T.'s. 
Organization Headquarters, Retaliations Section B 

Sinn Feiners Get a Warning 
It is your duty to support your Government. Don't harbor, 
engage by hire or otherwise, associates of Sinn Fein or members 
of that murderous society. We warn you that, if you do, revenge 
will be taken by means not yet heard of. 

By order. Secret Service Dept. 2 B, No. 17396 V. 



98 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

The public funerals of the murdered officers was a solemn 
and impressive sight, by which many thousands were deeply af- 
fected, and we have not a word to say against it. But a far more 
satisfactory tribute to the dead would have been the spectacle 
of a Sinn Fein murderer hanging on every lamp-post in Sackville 
Street and Grafton Street and that is what ought to have been 
done. — The Winning Post. 

Alderman MacSwiney would seem to have been most anxious 
for the world to note that he "died a soldier of the Irish Re- 
public" . . . He might just as reasonably have averred that he died 
an Admiral of the Swiss Navy. 

It is inherent in British Parliamentary practice that the Premier 
is responsible for the acts and utterances of every member of his 
Cabinet. It would appear that he has not publicly dissociated himself 
or his Government from Sir Hamar Greenwood. The moral obliquity 
implied in "shot trying to escape," "shot for refusal to halt," "Sinn Fein 
Extremists," "reprisals," and such terms, used in official British utter- 
ances, would seem to us to need no emphasis. 

It would appear to your Commission that the Imperial British 
Army in Ireland has been guilty of proved excesses, not incomparable 
in degree and kind with those alleged, by the Bryce Report on Belgian 
atrocities, to have been committed by the Imperial German Arniy.* 
And it would further appear that the Imperial British Government 
have created and introduced into Ireland, a country in area less than 
the State of Maine, a force of at least 78,000, many of whom were boys 
and some of them convicts ; has incited them to slay, burn and loot ; has 
armed them for their task ; and has tempered with terror and alcohol 
this chosen instrument, to fit it for the appointed purposes of the Im- 
perial British Government in Ireland. It would seem to us that the 
moral responsibility for the crime of this instrument rests on those 
who fashioned and used it. 

We would extend our sympathy to the great British people. 
The army which is the instrument of their Government in Ireland 
would also seem to be the instrument of the destruction of that moral 
heritage which was their glory and which cast its luster on each and all 
of them. The sun of that glory seems finally to have set over Ireland. 
British "justice" has become a discredited thing. The official Black and 
Tans in Ireland compete for the dishonor of Anglo-Saxon civilization 
with our unofficial lynch mobs. And decent folk everywhere are 
shamed and scandalized that such things can still be in their day and 
generation. We welcomed the British Labor Report on Conditions 



* We are under the disadvantage of lacking the official British side of the 
case save as we gathered it from documents presented before us, but the Bryce 
Commission was similarly handicapped, and to an even greater degree. 



100 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

in Ireland and the reports of the Englishwomen's International League 
and of the British Society of Friends — whose moral leadership, rising 
above the prejudices of race and nationality, has been in this great 
spiritual catastrophe of England almost the only sign of our common 
Christianity. We wish the Peace with Ireland Council Godspeed. We 
would congratulate the Manchester Guardian, the London Nation, The 
London Daily Herald, The New Statesman, and The Westminster 
Gazette for the courageous stand they have taken in exposing and de- 
nouncing to the British people the murder done in their name. And 
we hope that the spirit of these efforts may be strengthened, to the end 
that the wrong done to Ireland may be righted and the agony of her 
people cease. When these things shall be the great British people will 
emerge from the darkness that now encompasses them into the glory 
of a new day.* , 



* Both in England and America it has been suggested that our right to 
criticize the Imperial British rule in Ireland is impaired by certain examples of 
American imperialism which contravene our boasted belief in the principle of 
"government by consent of the governed." The members of the Commission are 
vitally eoncerned for American honor and are opposed to coercive imperialism 
v/herever and by whomever it is practiced. Their present concern with Ireland 
is prompted by the acuteness of the issue and its bearing on international 
friendship. In the course of the Commission's investigation it has become deeply 
impressed with the capacity of the Irish for self-government. 



CHAPTER VII 

Political Aspect of the Imperial British 
Policy in Ireland 

TN spite of this campaign of murder, arson, terror and destruction, 
T the Imperial British forces would appear to have failed to preserve 
^ Brit sTrule in Ireland. Mr. J. L. Fawsitt, Consul-General of the 
Irish Republic to the United States, quoted Earl Grey as saying that 
Britlh gCirnment of any sort in Ireland was^ "non-existent," and 
Mr Paul J. Furnas read the report of a committee 
from the Society of Friends in England estimating ^fnistration 
that the Imperial British Government had ceased to i„ Ireland 
function over at least 80 per cent, of Ireland. Lord 
Mayor Donal O'Callaghan of Cork testified that it has become almost 
Sssible for the British to collect taxes; and the statement of Com- 
moner Morgan of Thurles that British civil authority had lapsed 
generally was supported by numerous witnesses. . 

It would appear that the British courts are for the most part empty 
even of judges; 550 magistrates were said to have resigned office. 
Lord Mayor O'Callaghan reported such resignations m 
Cork Mrs Michael Mohan in Queenstown and Com- British Caurts 
^issi'oner Morgan again in Thurles. In Thurles said mD.suse 
Mr Morgan the government courts were practically ^ 

British Government to secure Irish citizens for jury service. 

Lord Mayor O'Callaghan read a report, composed by the Repub- 
lican Siidplhty of Cork, on acts committed by the Imperial British 
Irces berween 10 P. M. and 3 A. M., during one month, the month of 
November, 1920. The list includes : 

260 arrests. 

Upwards of 50 attempted arrests. 

Four publicly placarded threats to the citizens of Cork. 
Hundreds of general outrages. 
Fifteen trains held up. 
■ Upwards of 200 curfew arrests. 

Four Sinn Fein Clubs burned to the ground. 
£1,000,000 damage by fire. 

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POLITICAL ASPECT 103 

Seven men shot dead. 

Upwards of 12 men dangerously wounded by shots. 

Attempted assassinations of upwards of 10 men. 

Upwards of 500 houses of private citizens forcibly entered and 

searched. 
Much indiscriminate shooting. 

The primary duty of a Government to its people, the duty of pre- 
serving order and guaranteeing to citizens security of life and property 
would seem to us not to be fulfilled by the Imperial British Government 
of today in Ireland. We have had no testimony, except a report by Judge 
Bodkin (see Appendix D) v^rhich would lead us to the conclusion that 
British officials in Ireland today are serving any function useful to the 
Irish people. Instead, they seem to us to be engaged in destruction 
of Irish social and economic life. In other words, the evidence would 
seem to show that the campaign of the British forces in Ireland so far 
has failed to re-establish British Authority in Ireland. 

THE IRISH REPUBLIC 

The Imperial British Forces would seem to us likewise to have 
failed to destroy the civil administration set up by the Irish Repubhc. 
Mr. Denis Morgan, of Thurles, Miss Mary MacSwiney of Cork, Mr. 
Francis Hackett of New York, and others gave evidences of the intensity 
of the British campaign against independent Irish political life. This 
campaign has been unremitting since the election in December, 1918, 
which gave popular sanction to the Irish Republic. Ex-Constable 
Crowley testified that public meetings had been prohibited in his district 
since March, 1919, and Lord Mayor O'Callaghan submitted proof that 
every Republican organization in Cork had been attacked at least once 
before the great fire in which all of them were. burned. In addition, 
there would appear to have been a continuous war against Republicans 
in office. We have already discussed the evidence proving that Im- 
perial British forces slew for no discoverable reason other than Repub- 
licanism, citizens and officials of the Irish Republic. Mr. Morgan's 
house in Thurles, together with the houses of four other men, was 
signaled out for attack during the raid by the Mperial' British forces 
upon the town presumably because these five were Republican mem- 
bers of the Council. The Lord Mayors of Cork, MacCurtain, Mac- 
Swmey, and O'Callaghan are the most conspicuous instances, according 
to the testimony, of men persecuted in public office. Lord Mayor 
O'Callaghan Avas witness by his own experience and by that of his 
Commissioners to the difficulties encountered — such as arrests, threats, 
shots, and perpetual shadowing by Imperial "police" — while attempting 
to perform public duties. An affidavit by Seamus MacGearailt, chair- 
man of the Queenstown Urban Council, was placed in evidence showing 
that he had not been able for six months to approach his own house, 
much less attend to his official responsibilities. The Imperial British 



POLITICAL ASPECT 105 

forces would seem to us to be intensively engaged in thwarting the 
efforts of the duly elected Irish officials to administer the Civil Govern- 
ment in Ireland. 

FAILURE OF THE IMPERIAL BRITISH POLICY IN IRELAND 

In spite of these difficulties and with the Imperial British Govern- 
ment ceaselessly attempting to terrorize the people and to paralyze the 
social and economic life of the country the Irish Republican Government 
appears, in the light of voluminous and consistent testimony, to be defi- 
nitely holding its own and establishing its right to be considered the only 
working governrnent in Ireland outside the region around Belfast. 
Witnesses to its strength were numerous and unequivocal before the 
Commission, including among their number impartial observers from 
the outside as well as partisan observers from within. The Women's 
International League of England reported through a visiting com- 
mittee, "although members of the [Republican] Government are pro- 
scribed, their courts illegal, and their revenues forfeit, one can truly 
say that without them Ireland would be given over to sheer anarchy. 
The government had the enthusiastic support of the enormous majority 
of the population. To a degree never witnessed before by any of the 
women, it is possible to say that Dail Eirann governs with the consent 
of the people." The English Friends were convinced that "if the 
English garrison and armed police were to withdraw, the Sinn Fein 
government could and would run the country, and that at present order 
and safety are only found in districts from which the English military 
and police have been withdrawn." One witness, Mr. Clarke, firmly 
denied that the spirit of the Irish people had been broken by the Im- 
perial British terror. There were practically no informers among them, 
and there was seldom or never any refusal to meet obligations. Lord 
Mayor O'Callaghan had "never heard of one case where there has been. 
a refusal by anybody to pay their rates on the ground that the bodies 
[urban and county councils] are Republican." A loan floated by Dail 
Eirann, according to Consul-General Fawsitt, has been over-subscribed 
by one-half. On the whole, testified Miss Ruth Russell of Chicago, 
"I think there is possibly the greatest unanimity there that has ever 
existed in any country of the world." 

Estimates before the Commission of the percentage of Irish popula- 
tion which is favorable to the Republican Government either by act of 
ballot or in state of mind varied a good deal, but all were 
high, Mr, Daniel J, Broderick, an American visitor inyn 'Percentage of 
Ireland, thought that 99 per cent, of the 100,000 people?! Allegiance 
in Cork were for the Republic. Mr. Morgan of Thurles 
said that in the election af January, 1920, about 90 per cent, of the 
Urban Councils over Ireland as a whole went Republican. Mr. Francis 
Hackett, citing figures which he considered "absolutely trustworthy 



106 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

and very closely analyzed," claimed that the Sinn Fein party secured 
71,9 per cent, of the 699 seats in the County Councils. With the seats 
secured by Labor, which in the main is sympathetic, the total Repub- 
lican strength was at least 80 per cent. The most conservative estimate 
of the popular allegiance, 80 per cent., was made by the English Friends, 
in their report read by Mr, Furnas. Taking these figures at their 
lowest, and even discounting them then, to allow for enthusiasm and im- 
perfect investigation, the evidence would seem to be almost conclusive 
that the Irish Republican Government is the one government which is 
desired by the majority of people of Ireland today. 

Since April, 1919, according to Consul-General Fawsitt, there has 
been in operation an Irish Republic with a President and with Ministers 
. . of state for home affairs, foreign affairs, national 

of "the**' *° defense, finance, local government, industries, labor. 

Republican ' agriculture, education, trade and commerce, fisheries, 
Government forestry, and information. The government of the 

Irish Republic has consuls in the United States, France, Spain, Italy, 
Belgium and Denmark who are striving to secure recognition for the 
Republic and to consolidate its trade relations. Since 1918 the elected 
national representatives of Ireland have gathered in Dublin, con- 
stituting the Congress or Dail Eirann. This comprises 75 constituencies, 
all but 37 of whose representatives have spent terms in jail for their 
membership. This Congress met openly for twelve months, but now 
meets secretly, under difficulties imposed by the Imperial British Gov- 
ernment in Ireland. Its members and its leaders, according to Mr. 
Fawsitt, Miss MacSwiney, Miss Russell, and other witnesses who 
know them, are among the most brilliant of the younger men of Ireland, 
and they are bent upon keeping all young men of Ireland in Ireland 
by rigidly restricting emigration and by diverting those with political 
talent from the English civil service into the Irish. The Commission 
was impressed by the several reports of the composition and functioning 
of the Irish Republican Congress. 

Its economic program would appear. to be extensive, and to have 
had effect already upon the industrial organization of the country. 
Consul-General Fawsitt was confident that Ireland 
Economic under Irish management could support 12,000,000 

people, or three times its present number. An Eco- 
nomic Commission is studying national conditions, according to Mr. 
Hackett, and from it recommendations looking toward an intensification 
of industry are expected. It is apparent that much has been accom- 
plished in establishing healthy cooperative enterprises, including cheese 
factories, creameries, egg societies, banks and stores. An important 
Republican institution already well under way and described by Mr. 
Fawsitt, is the Land Bank, with six branches, which aims, through 
assisting poor farmers to buy land, at an eventual disintegration and 




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108 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

distribution of large rural estates, particularly in the West. Miss Ben- 
nett testified to the efficiency of the Land Courts which have arisen 
from the necessity to reconcile differences between cattle-drivers and 
the owners of grazing lands. International trade also is being studied 
with a view to the control of harbors and steamship lines. One line to 
New York has already been promoted, and the important harbor of 
Cork is expected by Mr. Fawsitt soon to come under the direct influence 
of the Republican Government. 

Since 1918, according to Lord Mayor O'Callaghan, local governing 
bodies in 28 out of the 32 Irish counties have become Republican, trans- 
ferring their allegiance from the English Local Gov- 
Q *^* . ernment Board to the Local Government Department 

of Dail Eirann. These bodies included County Coun- 
cils, Rural District Councils, Urban Councils. "Then Commissions and 
Boards of Guardians were moved to make the change," says the writer 
of a paper read by Miss Townshend, largely because the Local Govern- 
ment Board, taking advantage of the "malicious injuries Act," was 
assessing against the counties the costs of town halls, creameries, pri- 
vate houses, and other property destroyed by the Imperial British 
forces themselves. Whatever the motive, the transfer seems certainly 
to have been made, and the new bodies seem certainly to be functioning, 
though under the handicaps in some localities of persistent British 
persecution. They have collected £5,000,000 in taxes, testified Mr. 
Fawsitt, and are taking over and amending the British system of control 
of roads, lighting, water, sanitation, health, education, and public 
libraries. Lord Mayor O'Callaghan attested the representative character 
of the men composing these bodies; in the County Councils there sit 
holders of large farms, and in the Town Commissions are to be found 
university professors and prominent merchants, while there is a liberal 
proportion of labor leaders in each. In view of the importance of local 
government in the administration of any country, the Commission finds 
significant the testimony of various witnesses to the effect that local 
governing bodies in Ireland almost universally have Republican 
majorities. 

One recommendation of the new Republican courts seems to 
be that they are free from British red tape. They are bent upon per- 
forming their duties with dispatch and common sense. 
Republican Despite the fact that they are forced to lead an under- 

ground existence. Miss MacSwiney testified that 91 
per cent, of Ireland was making use of these courts, being attracted by 
their fairness as well as by their expedition. Mr. Broderick in Abbey- 
feale, Mr. Morgan in Thurles, the Friends and Lord Mayor O'Callaghan 
in Cork, and Mrs. Mohan in Queenstown claimed personal contact with 
them, and reported concerning their success. Mr. Broderick testified that 
the two cases he investigated in Abbeyf eale had been settled satisfactorily 



POLITICAL ASPECT 109 

in one week, although they had been hanging fire in the British courts 
for two years. No lawyers were employed either there or in Queens- 
town, in the court visited by Mrs. Mohan. The English Friends, in 
the report read by Mr. Furnas, found proceedings in Cork to be "con- 
ducted in a quiet and businesslike manner." Perhaps the most con- 
vincing testimony to the efficiency of the Republican, courts presented 
before the Commission, however, was that of Miss Bennett, which 
showed Unionists to be resorting to them for justice. It also seems 
significant that a conservative British firm, the Prudential Insurance 
Company of England, "had a case in the Cork District Court not so 
long ago." 

Preservation of order in Ireland would seem more complete on the 
part of Republican than on the part of Imperial forces. "It is generally 
admitted by moderate people, includmg many Union- 
ists," reads the report of the English Friends, "that PoHce "^^" 

the only protection they enjoy is from the Sinn Fein 
police. Their meetings are protected from interruption, stolen goods 
are found and returned, writers of threatening letters are dealt with 
and stopped, laws controlling the sale of intoxicating drinks are vigor- 
ously enforced. All this when it is a penal offence for a Sinn Fein 
volunteer policeman to act as such." One reason for the superior 
effectiveness of the Irish Republican police, said Lord Mayor O'Calla- 
ghan, was that they were answerable to the local governing bodies, 
whereas the British police had never been so answerable, but in a definite 
sense had had the character of foreign, occupying troops. Such, the 
Lord Mayor was also of the opinion, was the difference between the 
Irish Republican army and the Imperial British army. One, being 
domestic in its origin, had only order to preserve; the other, being 
foreign and imperial in its origin, had only respect to command, 
terror to strike, or revenge to take. 

In thus summarizing the evidence concerning the Irish Republican 
Government presented to it with surprising unanimity by Irish, English 
and American witnesses the Commission has no wish to extend the 
bounds set for it by the terms of the understanding on which it was 
created. In passing we would only note that British bodies which have 
investigated the situation, such as the Friends Committee, the English 
Women's International League and the British Labor Party, make 
the end of the "terror" and the withdrawal of British forces the 
conerstone of their constructive proposals. On the other hand Irish 
Republican leaders have repeatedly expressed willingness to come to 
an understanding with Britain as to foreign affairs which would conserve 
every reasonable British interest.* However, while refraining from 



* See on this point quotations from responsible Irish leaders embodied in the 
statement of the Irish Women's International League. (Appendix B.) 



no AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

recommendations on the political situation, the Commission is con- 
strained as a result of its inquiry to state its solemn conviction that 
behind the tragedy in Ireland lies the determination of the Imperial 
British Government to hold Ireland in its grip even at the cost of sub- 
stituting for the orderly government of the people's choice, fairly estab- 
lished in the face of opposition, a system which can only be called 
organized anarchy. The answer to this attempt, as events make increas- 
ingly plain, is violence and yet more violence. The continuance of such 
a situation menaces not only the happiness and well being of Ireland 
and England, but also of our own land, which is united to both by so 
many ties of interest and afifection. In the establishment and main- 
tenance of friendship between the peoples of our three countries may 
lie the realization of the hope of plain people everywhere that inter- 
national problems shall be solved by orderly and friendly processes in 
a world of peace. 

Washington, D. C. (Signed) Jane Addams. 

March 8th, 1921. FREDERIC C. HoWE. 

James H. Maurer. 

Oliver P. Newman. 

George W. Norris. 

Norman Thomas. 

David I. Walsh. 

L, HOLLINGSWORTH WOOD. 



SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT: 
THE RELIGIOUS ISSUE IN IRELAND 

NO examination of the Irish situation can ignore the religious issue. 
The Commission has, however, not included any detailed discus- 
sion of it in the main body of its report ; first, because evidence 
of religious controversy bulks much smaller in the testimony presented 
to it than in popular opinion ; and secondly, because it seemed peculiarly 
appropriate that the Protestant members should deal with the subject 
in view of the overwhelming predominance of Roman Catholics in 
Ireland and the charge sometimes heard in Protestant circles that Re- 
publican sentiment has its chief origin in ecclesiastical agitation. 

The only evidence before the Commission concerning serious re- 
ligious controversy resulting in the destruction of life and property dealt 
with the Ulster riots of the summer of 1920. Unfor- 
tunately our efforts to secure testimony on these occur- Pogroms 
rences from eye-witnesses proved unavailing; neither 
did we have direct testimony from any member of the Orange lodges — 
societies devoted to the cause of Protestant ascendancy in Ulster. We 
did, however, have testimony from Mr. Francis Hackett, Miss Signe 
Toksvig, and Mrs. Annot Robinson, who visited Ulster soon after the 
riots. None of these is Catholic in religion ; the first two are American 
citizens, the third is a British citizen of Scotch Presbyterian stock ; only 
Mr. Hackett is of Irish blood. 

The first of the riots occurred in Londonderry. This famous old 
Protestant stronghold is divided about evenly between Unionists and 
Republicans; the council is evenly divided and the i j j 

Mayor is a Sinn Feiner. Concerning the riots here °" °" ^^^^ 

the Commission received little testimony. It was alleged that although 
the Orangemen were the aggressors the Imperial British forces were 
benevolently neutral toward them and that order was restored by the 
Republican Government which sent in Irish Volunteers. 

More serious rioting occurred in Belfast beginning July 21st. Mr. 
Hackett and Miss Toksvig testified that by the end of August in recur- 
ring riots at least 56 people were killed. These riots Belfast 
between Protestants and Catholics in which Protestants 
were the aggressors partook of the character of Russian pogroms against 
the Jews. In October, 1920, Mrs. Robinson visited Ulster and found 
that "more than 20,000 expelled workers and their families" were ex- 
isting on relief. Some of them were expelled not only from their jobs, 

111 



112 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

but from their homes. The victims were predominantly Catholic though 
among them were Protestants suspected of "labor, socialist, or Sinn 
Fein sympathies."* It was testified that the occasion for the outbreak 
of rioting was the killing of District Commissioner Smyth in Cork. 
Mrs. Robinson believed that a more fundamental cause for the 
resurgence of bigotry was the election of 25 men who "were not 
Orangemen" to the Belfast City Council whose total membership is 60. 
After the election "open threats of retaliation were made by Orange 
leaders. . . . On July 21st inflamatory speeches were made at the 
gates of the shipyards and immediately after tliat the Orange workers 
turned upon their nationalist fellow workers and expelled something 
like 4,000 of them from the yards. Some of the men tried to swim 
the channel [Belfast Lough] but were met by stones on the other side 
so that they could not land and had to come back. Some of them 
spent hours in the water, some of them, of course, were killed." 
Orange workers refused to work with their nationalist comrades. They 
had the sympathy of the employers. The result was general expulsion 
of Catholic and Republican workers from the shipyards and linen mills 
which were then approaching a period of depression. 

One of the worst sufferers from the Ulster pogroms was the 

prosperous linen town of Lisburn just outside of Belfast. To this city 

Inspector Swanzy had been transferred from Cork 

Lisburn ^£^gj. ^}^g ^g^^^^ q£ Lq^^ Mayor MacCurtain. As he 

came out of a Protestant church one Sunday in September — the evi- 
dence is Mrs. Robinson's — "three motor cars came up filled by men 
who were . veiled, by men who were strangers to the district. They 
held up the congregation and District Inspector Swanzy was shot dead. 
The Orange population rose against the Catholic inhabitants of the town 
and the Sinn Fein and Nationalist leaders and burned their houses ; 
although the murder was admittedly committed by men who were 
strangers in the town. The town burned Sunday night and a large part 
of Monday, and no attempt was made to extinguish the flames, although 
Lisburn is quite near to Belfast, and the skies were lit up for miles 
around." 

As a result of her investigation Mrs. Robinson estimated that one 
house out of three had been destroyed. "The picture was one of abso- 
lute devastation." The plight of the homeless was pitiable. In a 
Catholic charitable institution she saw numbers of women refugees, 
driven out of their homes in Lisburn. 

I saw the Belgian refugees who came to us in Manchester. But 
those people were absolutely the most hopeless looking lot of people 
I have ever seen. You see, in the northeast it is almost impossible 
for a boy who wants to enter a skilled trade to get a place if he is 
known to be a Catholic. . . . And, of course, these women were the 



The terms are, of course, not synonymous. 



THE RELIGIOUS ISSUE 113 

/ 

wives and mothers of unskilled laborers; and it has been very diflficult 
to get a home together. Now they saw the effort of long years of 
toil swept away. They lacked life. And then the children. They 
were absolutely without anything to do. . . . The misery in that 
hall was very, very depressing. 

While on the face of it this is an appalling record of a revival of 
religious strife, all the witnesses who appeared before us agreed that 
the Ulster pogroms were not primarily due to a spon- 
taneous flare-up of smoldering bigotry, but were Economic and 
rather promoted by those whose economic and political Pol»t>cal 
mterests were opposed both to strong labor unionism Religious Strife 
and to Irish Republicanism. Certain manufacturers 
and Unionist politicians, it was alleged, had taken alarm at the solidarity 
of labor, Protestant and Catholic, shown in the great shipyard strike of 
1919, The result of the urban and county council elections held under 
proportional representation had evidenced the present strength of labor 
and of Sinn Fein in Unionist strongholds. Miss Toksvig, who made 
especial inquiry into the Belfast situation, quoted a large manufacturer 
as follows : 

I know and all the manufacturers in this city know, that the 
trouble is not a religious trouble except as it has been fostered by 
them to serve their political and their economic interests. ... I 
warned them a long time ago that they were rousing up a monster 
they could not control and which some day might turn upon them. 
The large manufacturers have worked together to keep up strife 
between the workmen using the religious issue as a means ... to 
prevent agitation among laborers to improve their conditions and 
wages, and [to prevent] home rule agitation. 

This statement, Miss Toksvig said, was corroborated by others. 
In effecting this division among the workers, the politicians and manu- 
facturers have had the aid of a large section of the press and of the 
clergy.* As illustrating the growing alarm of the employers over the 
economic issue, Mrs. Robinson called attention to features of the Home 
Rull Bill, recently enacted by the British Parliament, intended to secure 
the capitalist interests of Ulster against labor legislation in the par- 
liament to be set up for the six Ulster counties — three of which, several 
witnesses alleged, are predominantly Republican in sentiment. 

Even from Protestant Ulster itself comes evidence that its opposi- 
tion to Irish Republicanism is not wholly religious. Sir Edward Carson 
would seem to have accepted a Home Rule Act which 
gives his party approximately what they want in Ul- ^^e Problem 

ster at the price of delivering over the Protestant Religious ^ 

minority in the rest of Ireland to the majority rule 
of their Catholic neighbors. If the bond of unity were the Protestant 



* Of course not all of the clergy. The Rev. J. A. Irwin, a prominent Pres- 
byterian clergyman of Republican sympathies, was recently sentenced to one 
year's imprisonment by the British. 



114 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

Faith rather than the tangle of interests which supports the feeling of 
the dissimilarity and superiority of Ulster to the rest of Ireland, no 
such agreement would have been made. 

Limited as was the evidence placed before us, the Commission was 
made aware of the strength of the Ulster feeling of superiority in which 

condemnation of Catholicism is one element. This 
"Ulster ^^ conclusion is borne out by a careful examination of 

the statements of the Ulster delegation* to the United 
States embodied in the pamphlet Facts About Ireland put in evidence 
before us. Whether or not that sense of superiority is well grounded 
in fact has been scientifically examined by W. A. McKnight, whose 
pamphkt Ireland and the Ulster Legend was introduced in evidence. 
The author undertakes to show the truth about Ulster conditions by 
careful tables compiled from Imperial British Government Blue Books 
and other records whose accuracy is certified by a public accountant. 
These tables deal with taxable wealth, immigration, money expended 
on education, public health, illegitimacy, illiteracy, etc. They would 
appear to demolish the widely spread view that the average of material 
prosperity and social well being is higher in Ulster than in the rest of 
Ireland. In many respects other provinces make a better showing. 

So far as the Commission could judge the Irish Republicans do not 
seek to demolish the "Ulster legend" by direct attack. They desire 

to win, not alienate, Protestant Ulster. They have 
Sinn Fein's oftcred her guarantees as to not only religious freedom 

Poll" '^*°''^ but the protection of her economic interests. Mr. 

Laurence Ginnell, a member of Dail Eirann, himself 
a Catholic, testified: "We want the Orangemen. We know they will 
be one of the strongest elements in our new constitution. If English 
power were out of Ireland the south and the west and the midlands 
would harmonize with the people of thenorth within twenty- four hours." 
He pointed to certain concrete evidence of the growth of Irish national 
feeling in Protestant districts of Ulster, and in particular adduced the 
election of Louis Walsh of the Ballycastle district in County Antrim 
—a Protestant county — although Mr. Walsh was a Roman Catholic 
and a Republican. Miss Toksvig less optimistically believes that al- 
though the intense rehgious feeling in Ulster "was started artificially . . . 
the present generation is not going to forget about it soon." 

As regards the rest of Ireland outside the region immediately about 
Belfast, the Commission was impressed by the evidence of lack of any 

religious strife. In Ireland there were according to 
Ireland the census of 1911, 1,147,594 non-CathoHcs as against 

UUtlr"" 3,242,570 Catholics. 890,880 of these non-Catholics 

(as compared with 690,816 Catholics) are in Ulster, 

* The tour of this delegation was in itself evidence that Ulster Unionists 
do not regard the Irish issue as merely a British "domestic problem." 



THE RELIGIOUS ISSUE 115 

leaving 256,714 non-Catholics (as compared with 2,551,754 Catholics) 
in all the rest of Ireland. This small minority is, of course, physically 
at the mercy of the Catholic majority. Yet there is on record not one 
single case of attack upon the life and property of any Protestant on 
account of his religion. The Catholics were aware of the Ulster 
pogroms, they suffered linder Imperial British forces predominately 
Protestant in religion who did not spare their priests, convents* and 
churches, yet they were guilty of no reprisals of any sort upon their 
Protestant neighbors. 

And the evidence as to religious peace is positive as well as nega- 
tive. English, Irish and American witnesses with one voice denied 
that religious differences made for confusion or discord outside of 
Ulster. 

Constable Crowley, formerly of the R. I. C, expressed an opinion 
unanimously held by the witnesses before us, when he said that "Re- 
ligious peace was very great." Perhaps the most 
striking evidence on this whole subject is to be found Religious 

in the testimony of Miss Wilkinson, who said that the 
Wesleyan ministers in Ireland to whom her brother, himself a clergy- 
man, gave her introductions, "entirely ridiculed the idea that the south- 
ern Unionists were in any danger from the southern population." A 
clergyman in Limerick assured her that many of the most prosperous 
business places in that city were owned by Protestant Unionists. This 
minister said that "generally speaking the Irish people trusted them 
completely and they had no trouble at all ; . . . they were much more, 
fearful of what the Crown forces would do than of what the Sinn Fein 
forces would do." This same clerg3'man proceeded to assure her that 
"the policy of the government is turning many of the Unionists against 
it." Miss Louie Bennett and Miss Townshend, Irish Protestants, 
corroborated the statement of the clergymen quoted by Miss Wilkinson 
to the effect that the excesses of the Imperial British forces were tend- 
ing to dispose southern Protestants favorably toward the Republican 
government. Protestant business men, clergymen and farmers resort to 
Republican courts. Testimony already set forth in our main report 
calls attention to the significant fact that the condensed-milk factory at 
Mallow destroyed by the Imperial British forces in reprisal was owned 
by Mr. Cleeve, a Protestant. In the same town the Episcopal rector and 
the Presbyterian minister cooperated with the Catholic priest in an 
appeal to the British Commander to prevent a reprisal. Miss Townshend 
introduced in evidence a letter from Miss N. O'Brien, organizer of the 
Gaelic League, herself a Protestant, who testified that the rising spirit 
of Irish nationalism was uniting Catholic and Protestant in a common 
bond of unity. She illustrated this by citing St. Brendan's school near 



* On this point we have evidence from Miss Bennett, a Protestant. 



116 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

Dublin where Catholics and Protestants had united in an interesting 
educational experiment. 

Miss Mary MacSwiney and other Irish witnesses called to our 
attention the fact that Wolfe Tone, Robert Emmet, Charles Stewart 
Parnell, and many other of the patriot kaders in Ire- 
Protestant land's history were Protestant. In 1798 the strength 
* *'*° * of the insurrectionary movement was in Protestant 
Ulster. It was further testified that at the present time such prominent 
Republican leaders as Mr. Ernest Blythe of Dail Eirann, Capt. Robert 
Barton, Mr. Erskine Childers, and others are Protestant. These leaders 
have held the suffrage of their fellow countrymen despite the fact that 
they belong to a religious minority. Miss Bennett who is organizer of 
the Women's Trade Union League found that her Protestantism in no 
way interfered with her work among Dublin working girls, almost all 
of whom are Catholic. 

Miss Bennett and others made it clear that not only were some 
Protestants Republican in sympathy but also that there were Catholics 
who were anti-Republican. Miss Bennett testified that among the 
Catholic clergy were those who at best were decidedly lukewarm to- 
ward Sinn Fein. She cited the case of one priest who refused to lead 
his flock in prayers for Terence MacSwiney during his heroic hunger 
strike. 

While the Commission wished for fuller evidence upon some of 
the points we have here discussed, we felt warranted in the following 
conclusions : 

SUMMARY 

1. Outside of a part of Ulster, Catholics and Protestants live in 
peace and harmony and their political opinions are not primarily a 
matter of religion. 

2. Even in Ulster religious bigotry is not by any means wholly 
spontaneous, but is artificially stirred up by those, whose economic and 
political interests are served by dividing the people. 

3. While it obviously lies beyond our province to pass final judg- 
ment upon the various aspects of the Ulster issue, we have not only 
a right but a duty as American Protestants to denounce the degradation 
of religion by such pogroms as occurred last summer. Upon this sub- 
ject we owe it to our fellow religionists both in America and in Ulster. 
to speak plainly. 

Washington, D. C. (Signed) Jane Addams. 

March 8th, 1921. FREDERIC C. HOWE. 

James H. Maurer. 
Oliver P. Newman. 
George W. Norris. 
Norman Thomas. 
L. Hollingsworth Wood. 



APPENDICES 

Appendix A 

Correspondence with the British Embassy and Prof. De Valera, 
President of the Irish Republic. 

Appendix B 

Statement by the Irish Woman's International League. 

Appendix C 

List of Papers Suppressed by Imperial British Authority. 

Appendix D 

Official Report of County Judge Bodkin. 

Appendix E 

Sworn Statement of John McNamara. 

Appendix F 

Sworn Statement of Michael Kelly. 

Appendix G 

Legal Testimony on the Burning of Cork from the Cork Weekly 
Examiner. 



APPENDIX "A" 



Correspondence 

October 8, 1920. 
Sir Auckland Geddes 

The British Embassy, 
Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir Auckland: 

Under date of September 24 I had the honor to send to you a list of the then 
members of the Committee of One Hundred which has been formed at the 
suggestion of "The Nation" for the investigation of Irish atrocities. Under date 
of September 27 the names and addresses of a number of persons in Ireland who 
had been invited by the Committee to come to this country for the purpose of 
testifying before the Commission which the Committee of One Hundred was to 
choose was also transmitted, together with the request that you would be so 
good as to communicate the names to the British Government in order that 
assurance might be given that no impediment would be placed in the way of any 
of those persons who might desire to accept the invitation in question, and that 
there might be no reprisals. 

An acknowledgment of my letter of September 27 was made by the Chancery 
of the British Embassy under date of September 28. 

I have now the honor to enclose revised lists of the members of the Com- 
mittee of One Hundred. I take the occasioin which is thus afforded to advise you 
further with regard to the status and plans of both the Committee and the 
Commission, so far as the same have developed up to this time. 

The members of the Committee, now numbering nearly one hundred and 
fifty, are sending in their ballots for the members of the Commission which will 
conduct the investigation in question. The balloting for th« members of the 
Commission, the number of whom will probably not exceed seven, is expected to 
be completed within a very few days, and it is hoped that the Commission will be 
able to organize and open its sessions at Washington in the week begjinning 
October 18. The list of the members of the Commission will be communicated to 
you as soon as their acceptances have been received. 

As soon as the Commission comes into being the direct connection of "The 
Nation" with the investigation will cease, the Commission adopting such pro- 
cedure and carrying its inquiry to such extent as it may itself decide. 

For the information of the Commission, we are having prepared a preliminary 
list of the events in Ireland for whose investigation the Commission has been 
created. We have also, because of the urgency lof this whole matter, as my letter 
of September 27 informed yo\i, extended invitations to various persons in Ireland 
to appear as witnesses; and we shall continue to extend similar invitations as 
occasion arises down to the day when the Commission organizes to begin its 
work. It is not at all the intention, however, to limit the inquiry to witnesses 
thus invited. It will doubtless be the desire of the Commission that the inquiry 
shall take the widest practicable range, and that equal opportunity shall be 
given for the presentation of evidence on every side of the case. 

We desire to observe in the matter all the recognized diplomatic proprieties. 
In the interest of a thorough and impartial inqui'-v, however, I have the honor 
to request your assistance and cooperation in obta i.wig the presence of witnesses 
and the production of evidence. 

The Committee is prepared to assume some of the expense incident to 
bringing witnesses to this country from Great Britain or elsewhere. It is 
necessary, iof course, to have regard to the requirements of a budget; but after 
meeting the necessary expenses of the Commission, which we are prepared to 
finance to any necessary extent, and on behalf of which we have opened this 
week a public subscription through an announcement in "The Nation," we will 
meet in equal proportion, to such extent as may be mutually agreed upon, the 
expense of witnesses representing the British side of the matter and witnesses 
representing the Irish side of the matter. It is manifest, however, that in view 
of the large number of witnesses whom the Committee may deem it desirable to 
examine, or who may themselves desire to appear, a part of the expense must be 
met either by such witnesses themselves or by those on whose behalf they* 
appear before the Commission. 

119 



120 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

We shall accordingly be very glad to be informed by you approximately how 
many witnesses you wish to produce, and how many of them it would seem to 
you proper that we shiduld pay for. We shall of course desire the names and 
addresses of such witnesses, and an indication of the events to which they will 
be prepared to testify. 

The Commission will be prepared to examine any competent witnesses and 
to spend any necessary length of time upon the inquiry. I accordingly beg to 
repeat my request for your cooperation, and for assurances that no impediment 
will be placed in the way of witnesses who may be invited. We are of course 
confident that we shall have the cooperation of your Government in preventing 
any reprisals against witnesses or their friends. 

I have the honor to state, further, that we are prepared to arrange thnoiugh 
our representative in England the details of obtaining such passports or visas as 
may be required both for those whom you may wish us to bring and for those 
whidm others may desire us to bring. This is a matter which, as we understand, 
neither the Department of State at Washington nor the British Foreign Office is 
in the habit of undertaking directly. 

The Commission will also be prepared to receive copies of affidavits or 
other documents which may be submitted as evidence, duly certified in the 
usual way. 

The Commission will be provided with the necessary legal cidunsel, and a 
complete stenographic report of the hearings, which will be public, will be 
made. The work of preparation for the sessions of the Commission has pro- 
ceeded from the beginning under competent legal advice. It is also the intention 
to allow all parties in interest to be represented by counsel, and every opportunity 
will be given for such counsel to examine documents, to interrogate witnesses, 
and to file with the Commission any statements or exceptions which they may 
see fit to make. 

I beg to add that a communication to the same effect as the foregoing is 
being sent by this mail to Professor E. De Valera. 

I have the honor to remain, 

Yours respectfully, 

(Signed) WILLIAM MacDONALD, 

Secretary, 
COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED ON IRELAND. 



BRITISH EMBASSY, 
WASHINGTON. 

11th October, 1920. 

Sir: , ^ 

With reference to your letter of September 27th, 1920, relative to the Com- 
mittee of One Hundred organized by the "Nation," I am directed by His 
Majesty's Ambassador to inform you that no one will be refused a passport for 
the United States on the ground that he or she desires to give evidence on either 
side and that, while His Majesty's Government would take no steps_ against 
any British subject who may elect to give evidence before the Commission, they 
cannot guarantee that no reprisals will be enforced by Sinn Fein extremists in 
Ireland against persons who have given evidence against certain elements in 
that movement, should such persons return to Ireland. 
I am. Sir, 

Your obedient servant, 

(Signed) R. L. CRAIGHE, 

Secretary. 
William MacDonald, Esq., 
Associate Editor 
"The Nation," 

20 Vesey Street, 
New York. 



October 13, 1920. 

The Secretary, British Embassy, 

Washington, D. C. 
Sir * 

I beg to acknowledge with sincere appreciation the receipt of your letter 
of October 11. A copy of the letter is being communicated to Mr. E. DeValerai 
for his information. 

Yours very truly, 

(Signed) WILLIAM MacDONALD, 

Secretary, 
COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED ON IRELAND. 



APPENDIX 



121 



BRITISH EMBASSY, 
WASHINGTON. 



Sir: 



23d October, 1920. 



I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 8th instant respecting 
your proposal to form an unofficial Committee of Enquiry with reference to 
recent occurrences in Ireland. To this I have given careful consideration. 

I venture to say that no one who realizesi what the present position in 
Ireland involves in the sorrow and suffering of men, women and children can 
fail to be anxious that a way should be found to bring tranquility to that 
country. The British Government has more to gain than anyone in ensuring 
that the truth is made known to the whole world. I am, however, unable to 
bring myself to believe that the truth can be established until there has been 
a period of quiet in Ireland. Any enquiry undertaken just now, more especially 
any enquiry undertaken by persons of less than the greatest experience of the 
laws of evidence and without power to compel the production of books, papers, 
record.s, etc., would, in my opinion, lead to a mass of statements, unsupported 
by verifiable facts, being made for propaganda purposes. 

Sincere friends of Ireland should, it appears to me, do everything in their 
power to persuade all desirous of obtaining a solution of the age-long Irish 
problem that the first and deepest interest of Ireland is to secure that period of 
quiet which will alone make settlement possible by providing the opportunity 
for voices now inaudible to make themselves heard above the din. 

As you were informed in the letter from this Embassy of October 11th, the 
British Government will refuse no one a passport to the United States on the 
ground that he or she desires to give evidence on either side before your 
committee. It was added that, while His Majesty's Government would take no 
steps against any British subject who might elect to give evidence before the 
committee, they could not guarantee that no reprisals would be enforced byl 
Sinn Fein extremists in Ireland against persons who have given evidence against 
certain elements in that movement, should such persons return to Ireland. X 
may add that nothing will be done by the British Government to encourage the 
holding of this enquiry or to assist witnesses to appear before the committee. 



Yours truly. 



Esq., 



William MacDonald, 
"The Nation," 

20 Vesey Street, New York. 



(Signed) A. GEDDES. 



AMERICAN COMMISSION ON CONDITIONS IN IRELAND 



Hotel LaFayette, Washington, D. C. 

November 6, 1920. 
Sir Auckland Geddes, 
British Embassy, 

Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir Auckland: 

I have the honor to inform you that the American Commission on Condi- 
tions in Ireland, elected by the Committee of One Hundred formed at the 
suggestion of The Editors of The Nation, has met and organized and is prepared 
to proceed with its inquiry into conditions in Ireland. 

The members of the Commission are: Miss Jane Addams, Chicago, Illinois; 
Mr. James H. Maurer, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Mr. Frederic C. Howe, Harmon, 
New York; the Honorable Joseph W. Folk, Washington, D. C; Senator David I. 
Walsh, Boston, Massachusetts; Mr. Raymond Robins, Chicago, Illinois; and 
Mr. Alexander P. Moore, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.* The office of the Commission 
is at the Hotel LaFayette, Washington. 

The Commission has voted to begin public hearings at the Hotel LaFayette 
on Wednesday, November 17, and to continue the hearings on November 18 
and 19. Hearings will be held at 10 A. M. and 2 P. M. on the days named. 
The dates of subsequent hearings will be announced later. 

The Commission plans to make an entirelj' impartial inquiry and is anxious 
that all sides of the matter shall be fully presented. It is already in communica- 
tion with a number of persons in this country who desire to offer testimony, but 



122 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

it will also be glad to receive from any source the names of other persons who 
are prepared to testify on conditions of which they have personal knowledge. 

I shall be glad to give you at any time any information regarding the hear- 
ings that you may desire. 

Yours very truly, 

(Signed) WILLIAM MacDONALD, 

Secretary to the Commission. 



♦These were the members of the Commission as originally chosen. Messrs. Folk, 
Robins and Moore were unable to give the time necessary to the Inquiry. 

AMERICAN COMMISSION ON CONDITIONS IN IRELAND 

Hotel LaFayette, Washington, D. C. 

November 6, 1920. 
Sir Auckland Geddes, 

British Embassy, 

Washington, D. C. 
Dear Sir Auckland: 

On behalf of the American Commission on Conditions in Ireland I havre 
the honor to request your good offices in securing passports to the United 
States for the foUow^ing residents of Ireland: His Eminence Cardinal Logue, 
on behalf of such members of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy of Ireland as he . 
may designate; the Mayor of Belfast; Mr, Dempsey, Chairman of the Urban 
Council of Mallow; Mr. John Derham, Town Commissioner of Balbriggan; the 
Mayor of Londonderry; Mrs. Thomas MacCurtain, of Cork; Mr. Denis Morgan, 
Chairman of the Urban Council of Thurles; Mr. Donald O'Gallachain, Acting 
Lord Mayor of Cork; and Miss Irene E. Swanzy, of Lisbum. 

The Commission is charged with the duty of making the investigation for 
the furtherance of which the Committee of One Hundred was organized. Ini 
preparation for the investigation the persons named above were invited some 
time ago by the editors of The Nation, a weekly journal published in New York 
City, to come to this country for the purpose of testifying before the Com- 
mission; and it is on their behalf that the present request for passports is made. 

Under date of October 11 I was advised by the Secretary of the British 
Embassy that the British Government would not refuse passports to any British 
subject on the ground of his desire to come to the United States for the purpose 
of testifying before the Commission. The Commission begs to express the hope 
that passports for the persons named, or for such others as the Commission may 
deem it desirable to invite, may not be withheld, but that upon due application 
by the persons named the necessary papers may be promptly issued. 

Upon the receipt of what I earnestly hope may be your favorable reply, the 
Commission will immediately communicate with the persons for whom passports 
are requested and ask them to make application for their passports in the 
usual form. 

I have the honor to remain. 

Very respectfully yours, 

(Signed) WILLLA.M MacDONALD, 

Secretary to the Commission. 



BRITISH EMBASSY, 
WASHINGTON. 

November 10, 1920. 
Sir: 

I am directed by His Majesty's Ambassador to acknowledge the receipt of 
your two letters dated November 6th. 

In reply to that dealing with the issue of passports for certain persons 
resident in Ii'eland to come to this country. Sir Auckland Geddes can only refer 
you to his letter of October 23rd, in which, while you were informed that His 
Majesty's Government would do nothing to encourage the holding of the enquiry 
instituted by "The Nation," or to assist witnesses to appear before the com- 
mittee set up by that publication, it was expressly stated that no one Wouldl 
be refused a passport for the United States on the ground that he or she desired 
to give evidence on either side before the Committee. 

The persons to whom you refer, or anyone else who may wish to appear 



APPENDIX 



123 



before your committee, should, therefore, make application for a passport in 
the ordinary way. 

Yours very truly, 

(Signed) R. I. CRAIGIE, 

Secretary. 
Williain MacDonald, Esq , 
Hotel LaFayette, 

Washington, D. C. 



AMERICAN COMMISSION ON CONDITIONS IN IRELAND 

Hotel LaFayette, Washington, D. C. 

November 24, 1920. 
Sir Auckland Geddes, 

The British Embassy, 
Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir Auckland: 

On behalf of the American Commission on Conditions in Ireland I have 
today made application to the Department of State for the immediate issuance 
of passports to the British Isles to Norman M. Thomas, of New York City; 
Arthur Gleason, of New York City; James H. Maurer, of Reading, Pennsylvania; 
and Oliver P. Newman, of Washington, D. C. The persons for whom passports 
are requested have been designated by the Commission to proceed to England 
and Irfland for the purpose of investigating conditions in Ireland. The purpose 
of the investigation, as well as the nature and membership of the Commission 
itself, have already been communicated to you. 

I have the honor now to request your good oflBces in assuring the grant 
of visas at New York to the persons named above for whom passports have 
been asked. 

The Commission will feel under great obligation to you and to the Gov- 
ernment which you have the honor to represent if, in addition to your good 
offices in the matter of visas, you are able to secure for the Commission assur- 
ance that the persons named will receive, so far as it is within the power of 
the British Government to give, full protection during their stay in Ireland and 
full privilege of travel throughout the country. 

I have the honor to remain, 

Respectfully yours, 

(Signed) WILLIAM MacDONALD, 

Secretary to the Commission. 



AMERICAN COMMISSION ON CONDITIONS IN IRELAND 

Hotel LaFayette, Washington, D. C. 

December 6, 1920. 
Sir Auckland Geddes, 

The British Embassy, 
Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir Auckland: 

Under date of November 24 I had the honor of communicating to you the 
names of certain persons for v/honi passports to the British Isles had been 
requested by the American Commission on Conditions in Ireland and to solicit 
your good ofllces in assuring the grant of visas at New York to the persons 
named. The purpose of the application for passports and the request for visas 
T/as also stated. 

I have the honor now to advise you that in addition to the persons named 
in my letter of November 24 the Commission has also designated Dean Robert 
Morse Lovett of the University of Chicago and myself as further members of 
the commHtee which it is proposing to send to England and to Ireland. 

All of the persons named are in the possession of passports or have made 
application for them. 

I was advised on Saturday, the fourth instant, at the British Passport 
Bureau in New York that visas for the persons named above could not be 
issued there but that instructions had been received from the British Embassy 
to refer all such applications to the Embassy where the matter would be 
dealt with directly with the Commission. As the persons who have been 



124 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

designated by the Commission desire to sail within a few days, it is important 
that they should know whether or not visas are to be granted and where the 
same are to be obtained. I regret to say that no reply seems to have been 
received to my letter of November 24 and I am, accoirdingly, writing to call 
the matter again to your attention. I shall welcome the courtesy of an early 
reply. 

I have the honor to remain, 

Respectfully yours, 

(Signed) WILLIAM MacDONALD, 

Secretary to the Commission. 



BRITISH EMBASSY, 



WASHINGTON. 
Mr. William MacDonald, 6th December, 1920. 

Hotel LaFayette, 

Washington, D. C. 
Sir: 

i am directed by His Majesty's Ambassador to acknowledge receipt of your 
letters of the 24th ulto. and of today's date, intimating the desire of the Com- 
mission of which you are the Secretary to send a party of persons, six in' 
number including yourself, to investigate conditions in Ireland. I am to^ state 
that this application is receiving very careful consideration, and that a definite 
reply will be returned to you at the earliest possible moment. . . . 

As regards the last paragraph of your letter, I would observe that, while 
it is correct that applications to proceed to Ireland in connection with the 
enquiry must be referred by the Passport Officer at New York to this Embassy, 
you are incorrectly informed in regard to the necessity of dealing directly 
in the matter with His Majesty's Embassy. Applications for passports should 
continue to be made to the British Passport Officer at New York. 

I am. Sir, 

Yours very truly, (Signed) R. I. CRAIGIE, 

1st Secretary. 



AMERICAN COMMISSION ON CONDITIONS IN IRELAND 

Hotel LaFayette, Washington, D. C. 
The Secretary, December 7th, 1920. 

Bri'tish Embassy,' 
= ■'H.-ISOO Connecticut Avenue, 
Washington, D. C. 
Sir: 

I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 6th instant. It is 
gratifying to know that the request which has been made by the American 
Commission on Conditions in Ireland, on be?ialf of the persons whom the Com- 
mission has designated to go to Ireland, is receiving careful consideration, and 
I shall hope that a definite reply may, as your letter suggests, be returned 
to me at the earliest possible moment. ... 

I note the information conveyed in the last paragraph of your letter to 
the effect that applications for visas are to be made at New York and not at 
the Embassy. I beg to point out, however, that the members of the Committee 
whose names have been furnished you will be subjected to embarrassment in 
arranging for passage to England unless they can know for a reasonable period 
in advance that visas will be granted and when they may be obtained. I 
accordingly beg to renew the request for a decision in the matter at the earliest 
possible date. 

I have the honor to remain. 

Respectfully yours, 

(Signed) WILLIAM MacDONALD, 

Secretary to the Commission. 

BRITISH EMBASSY, 

WASHINGTON. 

8th December, 1920. 
Sir: 

With reference to your application for visa of the passports of certain 
gentlemen whom your Committee have designated as their representatives to 
proceed to the United Kingdom to investigate conditions in Ireland, I am 



APPENDIX 125 

directed by His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to inform you that the pro- 
posed visit to British territory is not agreeable to His Majesty s Government. 
Visas will therefore not be affixed to the passports in question. The Fassport 
Officer in New York has been instructed accordingly. 

This decision has been reached after full consideration of the circumstances 
of the case and 1 am to refer you to the Ambassador's letter of October 23rd, in 
which he informed you that he was unable to believe that the truth could be 
established until there had been a period of quiet in Ireland and then only by 
persons of the greatest experience of the laws of evidence with power to compel 
the production of books, papers and records and that any other form of enquiry 
would in his opinion lead only to a mass of statements unsupported by facts being 
made for propaganda purposes. . . 

Sir Auckland Geddes had ventured to hope that the full meaning and sig- 
nificance of these observations would have been clear. , „„ , ^ , 

In view of the fact that the Ambassador's letter to you of the 23rd October 
last appeared in the press, I am to inform you that this letter will be published. 

I am, Sir, 

Yours very truly, 

(Signed) E. L. CRAIGIE, 

First Secretary. 

AMERICAN COMMISSION ON CONDITIONS IN IRELAND 

Hotel Lafayette, 
Washington, D. •G. 

8 December, 1920. 
The Secretary, 

British Embassy, 

Washington, D, C. 
Sir: 

I am directed by the American Commission on Conditions in Ireland to 
make the following reply to your letter of this date addressed to the Secretary 
of the Commission. 

The American Commission on Conditions in Ireland, chosen by the Com- 
mittee of One Hundred, has received your communicatiom stating that visas 
will not be affixed to the passports of a committee of its members appoigited 
to visit Great Britain "to investigate conditions in Ireland." Your statement 
assumes that the proceedings of the committee would necessarily partake of a 
quasi-judicial character impossible under the circumstances. We venture to 
suggest that the Embassy has somewhat misunderstood both the situation and 
our own purpose. A committee of friendly American citizens deeply desirous 
of world peace might, in a much simpler manner than you suggest, ascertain 
the state of public opinion both in England and in Ireland, and learn facts 
not now understood in America; indeed, some such step has seemed to the 
Commission imperative in view of the fact that thus far, in spite of zeaHp^us 
efforts, we have been unable to secure competent witnesses to present testimony 
on the existing situation from non-Republican British and Irish points of view* 

In seeking to send a committee to Great Britain we have but followed the 
suggestion originally made to us by representatives of groups prominent in 
both English and Irish life. We had expected that this step would meet with 
the approval lof the Embassy, in view of the fact that, in his letter of 23r(^ 
October, Sir Auckland Geddes stated that "the British Government has more 
to gain than anyone in ensuring that the truth is made known to the whole 
world." It was and is our firm conviction that such a committee as we had 
intended to send might make plain to the peoples both of England and of 
Ireland the compelling reasons for America's interest. The American people 
are united by ties of blood to both countries. The Irish question deeply 
engrosses our people's interest. It is literally a domestic issue within the 
United States. If the present tragic conditions continue, they will menace 
world friendship and ultimately world peace. 

In view of these facts we cannot but hope that the decision of the British 
Government is not final. If your letter were to represent the final opinion of 
the British Government, certain regrettable conclusions would seem to follow. 
It would seem to imply autocratic interference on the part of governnient with 
the free communication of friendly peoples. It would check for the moment 
a modest but sincere effort toward the formation of an international public 
opinion which oculd be made to focus upon problems which threaten the peace 
of the world. 

The Commission will continue its work in conformity with its original 
purpose. It cannot but hope that both in England and in Ireland there will be 



126 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

a full understanding of its friendly purposes, as each day's events make more 
evident the tragic possibilities inherent in the situation. 
I have the honour to remain, 

Respectfully yours, 

(Signed) WILLIAM MacDONALD, 

Secretary to the Commission. 

BRITISH EMBASSY, 
WASHINGTON. 

The Chancery of the British Embassy beg to acknowledge the receipt of 
Mr. MacDonald's letter of December 8th. 
William MacDonald, Esq., 

Secretary to the American Commission on Conditions in Ireland, 
Hotel Lafayette, 

Washington, D. C. 

December 9, 1920, 



ELECTED GOVERNMENT 

lOf 

THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 
(American Delegation) 
1045 Munsey Building, 

Washington, D. C. _ 

9th October, 1920. 

Mr. William MacDonald, 

The Nation, 

20 Vesey Street, New York City. 
Dear Sir: 

President De Valera instructs me to acknowledge receipt of your communi- 
cation of October 8. He desires me to assure you that he will be very glad 
to assist and co-operate with the Commission, as far as lies within his power, 
so as to make their inquiry as exhaustive and satisfactory as possible. 

He foresees, however, the degree to which he is likely to be hampered by 
the fact that, owing to British control of the cables, rapid communication 
with his colleagues in the Government of Ireland is made impossible; and, as 
the British have control of the seas, safe-conducts from them for our witnesses 
would be necessary. 

The President assures "The Nation" that there is no fear whatever that 
reprisals will be attempted by the Irish people against any witnesses who 
may testify. 

He regrets that he is unable to say in advance, even approximately, how 
many witnesses the Irish Government may desire to produce. The Acting- 
President is on the spot in Ireland, and as he will have to be communicated 
with in any event, it would save time if "The Nation" would communicate with 
him directly. 

Very sincerely yours, 

(Signed) JOSEPH BEGLEY, 
Secretary to the President. 



REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 
DIPLOMATIC MISSION 
TO THE 
UNITED STATES 

1045 Munsey Building, 

Washington, D. C. 
November 18, 1920. 
Mr. William MacDonald, 
Secretary, 

American Commission on Ireland, 

Hotel LaFayette, Washington, D. C. 
Dear Sir: 

President De Valera has instructed me to acknowledge receipt of your 
letter of November 5, and to repeat what I said to you in my letters of 9th 
and 16th October, to the effect that the Irish Government would be pleased to 
assist the Commission, so far as it can, in the inquiry which it has undertaken. 



APPENDIX 127 

I am, however, to state that the Government cannot undertake to procure 
witnesses or provide them with Counsel. 

In order that the Commission might arrive at a full understanding of the 
extent of the savagery of which the armed forces of Britain in Ireland have 
been guilty, a host of witnesses would be necessary. It is only on the spot 
in Ireland that this evidence can really be procured and the President hopes 
that the Commission will make arrangements so that this evidence may be 
made available. 

As regards such witnesses as come to the United States to give evidence, 
he has been informed that the American Commission on Irish Independence 
will provide Counsel for them. 

Yours very truly, (Signed) JOSEPH BEGLEY, 

Secretary to the President. 



APPENDIX "B" 

Statement by the Irishwomen's International League 

The Irishwomen's International League affirms that the responsibility for 
the bloodshed and violence in Ireland rests upon the British Government, which 
refuses to allow Ireland the indefeasible right of all nations to freedom, out- 
laws her duly elected Parliament, and persistently attempts to rule the people 
by force. 

Every effort made by Ireland's chosen representatives to carry on the gov- 
ernment of the country with the consent of the people has been futhlessly 
suppressed by the militarist forces of the British Government. The members 
of the Dail (the Irish Parliament) have been imprisoned time after time, and 
eventually driven to carry on their activities sub rosa. 

As an organization advocating passive resistance to tyranny, we wish to 
draw particular attention to the constructive work attempted or achieved by 
the Dail, with the cooperation of the people, and to the methods by which this 
work has been impeded or destroyed by the British government. 

In our opinion the solution lies in the decision of Great Britain to with- 
draw her forces from Ireland and to permit the Irish people to create and 
develop their own national institutions as a free State. The objection to this 
on the side of Great Britain is avowedly based on strategic considerations. A 
free Ireland she declares to be a military danger. Whilst strongly protesting 
against the denial of freedom from such a motive, we believe at the same time 
that no ground for this objection exists and that a settlement may be 
reached which, with the friendly aid of America, would set at rest all such 
fears, reasonable or unreasonable. Republican Ireland has repeatedly affirmed 
through her leaders her willingness to enter into a treaty with Great Britain 
which would secure friendly relations between the two peoples. 

"The problem," stated Mr. De Valera recently, "can only be solved by a 
Treaty of Peace, signed by the accredited representatives of the two peoples, 
on the basis of a guarantee of Ireland's independence on the one hand and a 
guarantee of British security on the other by some international instrument. 
The Irish people will, I believe, readily consent to give Britain a guarantee 
which can be ratified internationally, that they will not allow their island to 
be used as a base for an attack on British independence." 

And hear Mr. Griffith who has spoken to the English people as follows: 
"Ireland seeks no more than the acknowledgment of her independence. Pro- 
vided that acknowledgment be made, she is quite ready to enter into a treaty 
by which the independence and security of the two countries can be mutually 
guaranteed. . . . Freely admit that Ireland has the right to choose her own 
government and Ireland ceases to be your enemy. Some of your politicians refer 
to Ireland as an enemy on your flank. When you deal with Ireland as nation 
with nation, there will no longer be an enemy on your flank. She will be a 
country by your side whose interest and whose will it will be to live in peace 
and amity with you." 

In order to prove Ireland's material interest in maintaining friendly relations 
with England, it is only necessary to state that the trade between the two* 
countries is worth 250,000,000 pounds a year and that each is the other's best 
customer. ("Sperling's Journal.") 

We believe that Ireland's devotion to the national cause, her sufferijigsi 
and her endurance must stir the conscience of America and of all free nations. 
The Irish problem affects the ordered and peaceful progress of humanity and 
raises issues, vital to the growth of human liberty. 

There are many practical reasons which make the present case of Ireland 



128 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

a source of interest and anxiety to America. It is not for us to enlarge upon 
these. But both ethical and practical considerations lead us to the belief that 
America would be justified in proposing to act as mediator in the present crisis, 
and in giving moral support to that growing section of the English people who 
are prepared to concede to Ireland her just rights as a nation. 

If America and Great Britain were to cooperate in negotiating such a prac- 
tical application of their own professed principles regarding small nations, we 
might then hope to see the principle of self-determination — which the Women's 
International League have asserted to be the essential basis of a truly righteous 
and durable international covenant — introduced into the constitution of the 
League of Nations, or (as we would prefer) of a new and more truly democratic 

covenant. • ■ » i.- i-.. 

The Irish people have proved how unconquerable is the spirit of nationality: 
the peace and happiness of the world depends upon .the measure of freedom 
given to that spirit. If Ireland wins her freedom now, the world will see a 
triumph of spiritual over material forces and may look forward to the future 
with diminished dread of devastating wars. 



APPENDIX "C" 



The following is- a list of the Irish papers suppressed by Imperial British 
authority for periods not disclosed to us. Placed in evidence by Counsel for 
the American Association for Recognition of the Irish Republic: 

"Ballina Herald" 2^H^"! 

"Belfast Evening Telegraph" .Belfast 

"Bottom Dog" Limerick 

"Cork Examiner" Cork 

"Cork Weegly Examiner" Cork 

"Cork Evening Echo" -Cork 

"Clare Champion" ••••.• -Ennis 

"Enniscorthy Echo" Enniscorthy 

"Evening Herald" Dublin 

"Fainne an Lae" Dublin 

"The Factionist" Limerick 

"Freedom" ^ Dublin 

"Galway Express" Galway 

"The Gael" 2"H." 

"Honesty" • 5,1?" 

"The Irishman" Dublin 

"Irish World" Dublin 

"Irish Republic" Limerick 

"Irish Worker" Dublin 

"Irish Volunteer" Dublin 

"Ireland" Dublin 

"Kilkenny People" Kilkenny 

"Kerryman" Tralee 

"Killarney Echo" Tralee 

"Kerry Weekly Reporter" Tralee 

"Kerry News" • Tralee 

"The Leader" Dublin 

"Limerick Leader" Limerick 

"Limerick Echo" Limerick 

"Liberator" Tralee 

"Mayo News" Westport 

"Munster News" Limerick 

"Meath Chronicle" Navan 

"Nationality" .• Dublin 

"Newcastle Observer" Newcastle West 

"New Ireland" Dublin 

"The Republic" Dublin 

"The Spark" Dublin 

"Scissors & Paste" Dublin 

"Sligo Nationalist" Sligo 

"Sinn Fein" Dublin 

"Southern Star" Skibbereen 

"The Voice of Labour" Dublin 

" Waterf ord News" Waterf ord 

"Weekly Nationalist Jiournal" 

"Westmeath Independent" Athlone 



APPENDIX 129 

"The Worker" Dublin 

"The Worker's Republic" Dublin 

"Southern Democrat" Newcastle West 

"Freman's Journal" Dublin 



APPENDIX "D" 

Official Report of County Judge Bodkin 

To the Right Hon. Sir Hamar Greenwood, 

Chief Secretary for Ireland. 
Sir: 

I beg to report that there came before me at the Hilary Sessions for the 
county of Clare 356 claims for compensation for criminal injury amounting in 
all to over £466,000. In a very large number of these cases it was alleged that 
the criminal injuries had been committed by the armed forces ;of the GoveTn- 
ment. I, therefore, directed that notice should be served by telegram on the 
proper authority so that the military and police might have an opportunity of 
being represented at the inquiry, and I adjourned the hearing until the following 
day. On the following day Mr. Cullinan, Crown Solicitor, stated in court that 
he had instructions to attend as representing the military. A sworn verbatim 
short-hand report was taken of the evidence in these cases, a typed transcript 
of which I forv/ard herewith. 

LOOTING AT LAHINCH 

It was proved before me on sworn evidence in open court that on the night 
of September 22 the town of Lahinch was attacked by a large body of the armed 
forces of the Government. Rifle shots were fired apparently at random in the 
streets and a very large number of houses and shops were broken into, set on 
fire, and their contents looted or destroyed. The inhabitants, most of them 
in their nightclothes — men, women and children, invalids, old people over 
eighty, and children in arms — were compelled at a moment's notice and at 
peril of their lives to fly through back doors and windows to the sand hills in 
the neighborhood of the town, where they remained during the night, returning 
in the morning to find their homes completely destroyed. In the course of 
this attack a man named Joseph Sammon was shot dead. 

There were in all before me 38 claims for the criminal injuries committed 
on that occasion, and after full consideration of the claims I awarded a total 
sum of over £65,000. 

MEN SHOT AT ENNISTYMON 

On the same night the town of Ennistymon was similarly invaded by the 
armed forces of the Government. Shots were fired in the streets. The Town 
Hall and a large number of houses and shops were broken into, set on fire, and 
with their contents destroyed. As in Lahinch, the inhabitants were compelled 
to fly for their lives. A young married man named Conole was seized in the 
street by a party of men under command of an officer. His wife, who was 
with him, pleaded on her knees with the officer for the life of her husband, but 
he was taken away a short distance, shot, and his charred remains were found 
next morning in his own house, which had been burnt. Another young man 
named Linnane was shot dead in the streets while attempting to extinguish the 
flames. For the criminal injuries committed in the progress of this attack 
there were 13 claims, and I awarded upwards of £39,000 compensation. 

MURDER AT MILTOWN-MALBAY 

On the same night the town of Miltown-Malbay was similarly invaded by 
the armed forces lof the Government. A large number of houses and shops were 
broken into, set on fire, and destroyed, the inhabitants escaping with difficulty 
and danger. An old woman named Lynch proved that during the course of this 
raid, just before the burning of her house, her husband (an old man of 75), while 
standing beside her at their own doorway was shot dead by a soldier in uni- 
form, distant about ten yards. She made no claim for the murder of her 
husband. I awarded £414 for the destruction of her home and property. 

It is right to add that in this town some of the military and police endeav- 
ored to extinguish the flames. There were before me in respect of the raid 
at Miltown-Malbay 28 claims, and I awarded upwards of £45,000. 



130 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

DIRECTED TO CALL FOR BODY 
A fanner named Daniel Egan applied to me for compensation for the 
alleged murder of his son. It was proved that a number of men arrested his 
son and three other men at his residence, on the shores of Lough Derg, bound 
them with ropes, and carried them away in a boat. The next that the father 
heard of his son was a telegram from the police informing him that he had 
been shot on the bridge at Killaloe and directing him to come to Killaloe_ for 
the corpse. On going to the police station he found his son's dead body in a 
coffin. There was a number of military and police present, but the only one 
he knew was District Inspector Gwynne. I allowed the case to stand for a 
week for the production of the district inspector. The district inspector did 
not appear, and I adjourned the case to next sessions. 

COMPLAINT OF AUXILIARIES 

Mrs. McDonnell, of Kielty, Tomgranny, claimed compensation for the burn- 
ing of her house, furniture, and other property on December 3 by the armed 
forces of the Government. Mrs. Bridget McDonnell, daughter of the applicant, 
proved the burning of the property and the harsh treatment to which she and 
her mother and sister had been subjected by the raiders. The house, she swore, 
had been previously raided and searched on several occasions by Auxiliary 
forces under the command of officers, On the night of the burning she recogr 
nized two of the Auxiliaries who had been there on previous occasions. 

She went to the Lakeside Hotel, Killaloe, after the burnin;j to complain 
to Colonel Andrews, in command of the Auxiliaries at their headquarters 
there. While she was speaking to the Colonel she recognized one of the men 
she had seen at the burning, and requested that the men should be paraded for 
identification after having pointed out the man she had recognized. The Colonel 
made mo reply, and the men were not paraded. 

APPLICATION DISMISSED 

Patrick Fennessy applied for compensation for the burning of hay by men 
in uniform. After the burning had been proved. Head Constable Hillard de- 
posed l;hat the hay had been burned by a mixed force of police and military, 
he being in charge of the police on the occasion. In the hay had been found a 
number of rifles, including one that had been taken from a murdered police- 
man some time before. There was ammunition in the hay, which exploded 
during the burning. He directed the hay to be burnt as a precaution. I, 
decided that this was not a criminal injury, and dismissed the application. 

JURISDICTION NOT "OUSTED" 

In four other cases, after proof of the burning of houses, hay and other 
property by the Government forces, military officers attended in court and 
proved that the houses, etc., had been burned by the military, in two of the 
cases (applicants O'Gorman and Honan) by the express direction of the officer 
in command, and in the other two (applicants McCarthy and Mioloney) by the 
verbal authority of the competent military authority. There was no evidence 
or suggestion that any of the occupants of the houses or the owners of the 
property had been guilty of any offense. It was argued by Mr. CuUinan, 
Crown Solicitor, that the Privy Council decision in the case of Marais during 
the Boer "War ousted my jurisdiction. I held after argument that martial law 
not having then been proclaimed my jurisdiction was not ousted, and that the 
authority of the military was limited by the Restoration of Order in Ireland 
Regulations. I held that I had jurisdiction in the cases. 

I found on the facts that the burnings were in the nature of reprisals, and 
I decided that "the ordinary avocations of life and enjoyment of property had 
been interfered with." and that these burnings were not necessary or at all 
calculated to secure the maintenance or restoration of law in Ireland. 

PEOPLE TREATED WITH VIOLENCE 

On November 1 a raid was made on the village of O'Brien's Bridge by 
the armed forces of the Crown. A large number of the inhabitants, including 
women and children, were treated with great violence, and their houses, with 
the contents, burned. There were in all 25 applications in respect of this 
occurrence, and I awarded compensation to the amount of upwards of £13,000. 

On November 7 the town of Feakle was similarly invaded by the armed 



APPENDIX 131 

forces of the Government. During the progress of this raid a postman was 
wounded in the face by gun shot. There were nine applications in respect 
of this attack, and I awarded compensation to upwards of £7,000. 

NO CHARGES AGAINST VICTIMS 

A large number of other criminal injuries were committed by Government 
forces either in continuous raids or isolated cases. The total amount of the 
awards in cases in which it was proved that Government forces committed the 
criminal injuries amounted to £187,046 19s 3d. There were in all 139 cases in 
which it was proved that the criminal injuries were committed by the armed 
forces of the government, and only in the five cases already mentioned were 
any witnesses examined to justify, deny, or explain. In no case was there any 
evidence to suggest that the victims had been guilty of any offense. 

TOO HEAVY FOR RATEPAYERS 

The compensation already awarded in this county in criminal injury claims 
amounts, I am informed, to well over a quarter of a million. This constitutes, 
in my humble judgment, an impossible burden on the ratepayers of the county, 
many of them already hopelessly impoverished by the loss of their property and 
means of livlihood, and I would strongly recommend that in the cases in which 
it is clearly proved that the criminal injuries were committed by the armed 
forces of the Government the compensation should be paid out of the public 
Treasury. 

In addition to the verbatim shorthand report I also furnish herewith a de- 
tailed list of the cases in which I found on the evidence that the criminal 
injuries were committed by the armed forces of the Crown, acting without law- 
ful authority, showing the amount of compensation awarded in each case. 

In conclusion I venture to repeat an opinion expressed at a previous 
session three months ago, that law and order cannot be restored or maintained 
by what I felt constrained to describe as a competition in crime. 

(Signed) M. McDONNELL BODKIN, 

County Court Judge for Co. Clare. 



APPENDIX "E" 

Statement of John McNamara 



My name is John McNamara. I am a citizen of the Irish Republic. I was 
born at Crusheen, County Clare, Ireland, on the 8th of May 1899. 

I enlisted as a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary at Crusheen, County 
Clare, November 18, 1918. My registration number is 69,575. Following my 
enlistment I spent seven months at the R. I. C. depot, Phoenix Park, Dublin. 
I was stationed at Listowell from June 1 to July 12, 1919, at Liselton from July 
12, 1919 to May 5, 1920, at Listowell from May 5, 1920, to October 16, 1920; at 
Ballylongford from October 16, 1920, to November 1, 1920. 

During the time I was stationed at Listowell the town was peaceable, there 
was no outbreaks of trouble of any kind. Following a change in the military 
personnel in Ireland Colonel Smyth was made Divisional Commissioner of Police 
for the Mun.ster Area early in June, 1920. On June 19, 1920, Colonel Smyth 
visited the R. I. C. barracks at Listowell in company with General Tudor, Inspec- 
tor General of Police and Black and Tans for Ireland, Major Letham, Commis- 
sioner of Police, from Dublin Castle, Captain Chadwick in charge of the military 
at Ballyruddy, and Poer O'Shea, County Inspector of Police for County Kerry. 
Colonel Smyth addressed the members of the R. I. C. in the barracks at Listowell, 
making substantially the following remarks: 

Well, men, I have something of interest to tell you, something that I 
am sure you would not wish your wives and families to hear. I am going 
to lay all my cards on the table but I must reserve one card for myself. 
Now, men, Sinn Fein has had all the sport up to the present, and we are 
going to have the sport now. The police have done splendid work consid- 
ering the odds against them. The police are not sufficiently strong to do 
anything but hold their barracks. This is not enough, for as long as we 
remain on the defensive so long will Sinn Fein have the whip hand. We 
must take the offensive and beat Sinn Fein with its own tactics. Martial 
law applying to all Ireland is coming into operation shortly. I am promised 



132 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

as many troops from England as I require; thousands are coming daily. I 
am getting 7,000 police from England. 

Now, men, what I wish to explain to you is that you are to strengthen your 
comrades in the out stations. If a police barracks is burned or if the bar- 
racks already occupied is not suitable, then the best house in the locality is 
to be commandeered, the occupants thrown out in the gutter. Let them die 
there, the more the merrier. You must go out six nights a week at least 
and get out of the barracks by the back door or a skylight so you won't be 
seen. Police and military will patrol the country roads at least five nights 
a week. They are not to confine themselves to the main roads' but take 
across the country, lie in ambush, take cover behind fences near the roads, 
and when civilians are seen approaching shout "Hands up." Should the 
order be not obeyed shoot, and shoot with effect. If the persons approaching 
carry their hands in their pockets or are in any way suspicious-looking, 
shoot them down. You may make mistakes occasionally and innocent per- 
sons may be shot, but that cannot be helped and you are bound to get the 
right persons sometimes. The more you shoot the better I will like you; 
and I assure you that no policeman will get into trouble for shooting any 
man and I will guarantee that your names will not be given at the inquest. 
Hunger strikers will be allowed to die in jail, the more the merrier. Some 
of them have died already, and a damn bad job they were not all allowed to 
die. As a matter of fact some of them have already been dealt with in a 
manner their friends will never hear about. An emigrant ship will be 
leaving an Irish port soon with lots of Sinn Feiners on board. I assure you 
men it will never land. That is nearly all I have to say to you. We want 
your assistance in carrying out this scheme of wiping out Sinn Fein. A man 
who is not prepared to do so is a hindrance rather than a help to us, and 
he had better leave the job at once. 

Colonel Smyth then asked each one of us individually if he was prepared to 
carry out these orders and cooperate. As each man was asked the question he 
referred Colonel Smyth to our spokesman Constable Mee, whom we had pre- 
viously appointed in case such a demand as this were made upon us, as we had 
heard that the new military officials were going to make such a demand. Con- 
stable Mee stepped from the line and addressed Colonel Smyth: "Sir, by your 
accent I take it that you are an Englishman who in your igliorance forgets 
that you are addressing Irishmen." Constable Mee took off his cap, belt and 
bayonet and laid them on the table. "These too are English," he said, "and 
you can have them. And to hell with you. You are a murderer." 

At a signal from Colonel Smyth, constable Mee was immediately seized and 
placed under arrest, and the entire twenty-five of us rushed to his assistance 
and released him. We informed Colonel Smyth that if another hand were laid 
upon our spokesman either then or in the future that the room would run red 
with blood. Colonel Smyth thereupon fled into another room, barred the door 
and remained for several hours. We sent a messenger in to him to demand a 
guaranty that constable Mee would not be held to account at any time for the 
remark made on our behalf, and before he left that day Colonel Smyth gave 
us that guaranty. Afterwards Inspector General Tudor sent out and asked to 
have an interview with us, and when we said we would see him he came out and 
shook hands with each man and told us to keep our heads, that everything was 
all right. 

There was considerable talk about resignations and fourteen of us who were 
unmarried men turned in our resignations as members of the R. I. C. that day. 
These resignations were not accepted. Afterwards we fourteen made a signed 
statement of the remarks of Colonel Smyth and sent it to the Freemen's Journal, 
a Republican newspaper published at Dublin, with the request that an official 
investigation be made. There was considerable demand for an ofiicial investi- 
gation of Colonel Smyth's remarks but no such investigation was ever ordered 
or. made, and the military police and civil authorities did nothing whatever about 
it. About that time five members of the R. I. C. at Listowell walked out and 
the rest of us planned to resign by degrees so as not to endanger ourselves. 
I was at Listowell when the Black and Tans first came there about six weeks 
after Colonel Smyth's remarks. They arrived from Limerick Sunday evening 
in motor lorries and fired shots at men, women and children in the streets. A 
few days after they had been there they arrested a young chemist of Newtown 
Sands named Tim Stack, about 17 years of age, threw him into the guard room, 
beat him with rifle butts and batons, and kicked him in the face and over the 
body and refused to give him food. None of the members of the R. I. C. on the 
barracks were permitted to feed the prisoner but his friends brought him food 
from the outside. After two days of torture young Stack was released. No 
charge was ever preferred against him. 



APPENDIX 133 

When the Black and Tans arrived at Listowell from Limerick I heard them 
boast that a Black and Tan named Huckersby who had been stationed at Abbey 
Field, County Limerick, had killed a postman and a blacksmith in that town 
and had killed an old-age pensioner 70 years old at Shanagolden, County Lim- 
erick. The Black and Tans who told me of this said that Huckersby had also 
killed six or eight men in the Limerick City. And that nothing had ever been 
done with him except to take him into William Street barracks in Limerick Cty 
for protection. Also some of the Black and Tans boasted that they had sprinkled 
gasolene on the clothing of four leading Sinn Feiners in Limerick City and set 
fire tc them, burning them to death. They boasted also that they had shot and 
killed a former member of the R. I. C. who had resigned and made this boast 
as a threat to the members of the R. I. C. at Listowell to keep them in line. 

While I was stationed at Ballylongford two Black and Tans from the bar- 
racks went to a church in the village at about seven o'clock in the evening when 
two or three hundred residents were at evening devotion. They stationed them- 
selves at the gate of the church with batons and beat the people as they came 
through the gate. There were many w*omen and children beaten upon this night. 
The two Black and Tans who perpetrated this outrage boasted about it at the 
barracks but no official investigation was ever made and they were not repri- 
manded by their superior officers. 

Later that evening- one of these two Black and Tans was kidnapped while 
he was in the village and held for three or four days. During these three or 
four days this Black and Tan was kept away from liquor for the first time in a 
number of months and as a result of this enforced abstinence was sent to the 
hospital for treatment after he returned to the barracks. 

After I returned to Listowell I heard Black and Tans plotting to carry out 
a reprisal because of the capture of their comrade at Ballylongford. They 
planned to burn the public house lof John Collins and shoot Edward Carmody 
of Kush, Ballylongford. Two or three nights after I heard this conversation 
Collins' house was burned down and Edward Carmody was shot. 

The members of the Black and Tan forces in Ireland are recruited from 
the slums of big cities and I have heard many of them boast that they had com- 
mitted many crimes. They are men of the lowest possible character and most 
oi' them are drunk most of the time. It is their practice to break in public 
houses and saloons and confiscate the liquor there. They use the vilest imagin- 
able language on all occasions and no man who respects himself would be 
associated with them. It is their practice to steel food, fowl and other farm 
animals at night on raids which they conducted dressed in civilian clothes and 
with blackened faces. None of the officials in charge of the barracks reprimand 
them for these raids. 

(Signed) JOHN McNAMARA. 
STATE OF CONNECTICUT, ) 
COUNTY OF NEW HAVEN. ) ^^" 

New Haven, March 7, 1921. 

Personally appeared before me John McNamara, who made solemn oath that 
the foregoing statement is true and was made voluntarily, and who signed the 
same in my presence. 

(Signed) JOHN H. HOLMES, 

Notary Public. 

My commission expires February 21, 1924. 
(Seal.) 



APPENDIX "F" 

Statement of Vlichael Kelly 



My name is Michael Kelly. I am a citizen of the Irish Republic. I was born 
in Ballycastle, County Mayo, Ireland, about twenty-six years ago. 

I enlisted as a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary at Ballycastle in 
October, 1914. I spent the next six m.onths at the Royal Irish Constabulary 
depot at Phoenix Park, Dublin, in training. I was then transferred to Gleni 
Beigh, County Kerry, and was stationed there from April, 1915 to July, 1917. 
From July, 1917, to May, 1918, I was stationed at Liselton, County Kerry. Frorti 
May, 1918, to January, 1919, I was stationed at Ballybunion, County Kerry. From 
January, 1919, to November, 1919, I was stationed at Ballylongford, County 
Kerry. From November, 1919, to April, 1920, I was stationed at Liselton. From 
April, 1920, to September 26, 1920, I was stationed at Listowell. 



134 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

During the early part of my duty at Listowell the town was quite orderly. 
There had been no trouble of any kind and it was as peaceable a place as you 
could wish to see. At Ballyruddy, about two miles from Listowell, there was a 
camp with about one hundred military and Black and Tans. Occasionally raids 
were made by these military and Black and Tans, and the members of the Royal 
$rish Constabulary at Listowell were asked to cooperate with the Black and 
Tans in these raids. There were about twenty-five of us at Listowell and we 
all refused to cooperate with the Black and Tans in the raids. 

Along in June, 1920 there were some changes made in the military officials 
in Ireland and a man named Colonel Smyth was made Divisional Commissioner 
of Police for the Munster Area. Smyth had served in the great war as an army 
officer with the British forces and was about forty years lof age. On June 19, 
1920, at about 10:30 or 11:00 in the morning Smyth paid a visit to the R. I. C. 
barracks at Listowell in company with General Tudor, Inspector General of 
Police and Black and Tans for Ireland, Major Letham, one of the police officials 
from Dublin Castle, Captain Chadwick in charge of the military at Ballyruddy, 
and Poer O'Shea, County Inspector of Police for County Kerry. Colonel Smyth 
addressed all the members of the R. I. C. in the barracks at Listowell, making 
substantially the following remarks: [What follows is identical with statement 
in McNamara's affidavit] .... 

About six weeks after Colonel Smyth's statement a number of Black and 
Tans were sent over to Listowell from Limerick to replace the men who had 
resigned. They arrived in Listowell on a Sunday evening and announced their 
presence in the town by shooting through the streets. They came in three mili- 
tary lorries and some of them were drunk when they arrived at the barracks. 

About a week after their arrival some of the Black and Tans brought to 
the barracks a young boy seventeen years old named Tim Stack, a chemist of 
Newtown Sands, who had been charged with being a Sinn Fein sympathizer. 
He was thrown into the guard room and beaten and kicked by four of the Black 
Black and Tans, and severely injured. He was held for two days and the Black 
and Tans refused to give him food and refused to permit the members of the 
R. I. C. to give him food, but permitted his friends to bring him food. He was 
released without any charges beng preferred aganst him. 

About October 5th I saw a mixed party of military and Black and Tans 
consisting of ten men leave the barracks at Listowell at ten o'clock at night in 
marching formation. At about eight o'clock the following morning they returned 
and I heard them boasting that they had gone to the farm of James Houljihan 
near Ballyduff and had :there dragged out of bed Houlihan's son, taken him 
Into the backyard and shot him dead. One of the Black and Tans said that each 
of the ten men in the party fired five rounds of ammunition into the boy's body, 
and that the body had been stabbed with bayonets after the boy had fallen. 
They also boasted of having burned six houses in and around the village of 
Ballyduff. This raid, shooting and burning, was in reprisal for an ambush near 
Ballyduff earlier that evening in which one Black and Tan was killed and two 
wounded. I do not know whether or not the reprisal was officially ordered, but 
no investigation was made and none of the members of the reprisal party was 
reprimanded. In command of the party that night was District Inspector Tobias 
O'Sullivan who was in charge of the R. I. C. and Black and Tans stationed at 
Listowell. 

Along in September, together with other members of the R. I. C. at Listowell 
I refused to carry arms or cooperate with the Black and Tans on police duty, 
and was suspended from the R. I. C. on September 26, 1920. Thereafter I 
stayed at the barracks for approximately six weeks awaiting my pay and final 
discharge papers. During this time I was not on duty and was dressed in 
civilian clothes. 

About the second week in October I was returning to the barracks at two 
o'clock in the morning and just as I entered the barracks I noticed a party 
of ten Black and Tans who v/ere stationed in the barracks ready to go lOut. 
They were dressed in civilian clothes and had their faces blackened. They 
grabbed me and forced me to accompany them on their raid, under threats of 
death. We went out in a motor lorry equipped with bombs, rifles, torches, and 
an extra supply of gasolene. The Black and Tans first visited the home of 
Jerry Sullivan of Inch, about ten miles from Listowell. There they dragged 
from his bed Patrick Sullivan and beat him severely with clubs, rifles, and 
fists, kicked him in the face and on the body and left him severely wounded in 
the yard. When his sister protested they grabbed her and cut off her hair and 
threatened the parents that they would be killed if they did not get back into 
bed and make no outcry. From there they went to the house of McAlligot at 
Lixnaw. They dragged two sons out of bed after breaking through the door 
and breaking every window in the house, and beat the two boys until they 



APPENDIX 135 

were nearly dead. From there they went to the home of Grady, searching for 
the young man of the family. While they were breaking in the front door young 
Grady escaped through a back window and ran across the fields. Members of 
the Black and Tans ran after him but were unable to catch him. They then 
returned to the house and dragged out of bed a young man who was working 
on the place and beat him severely. Young Grady's sister raised an outcry and 
they grabbed her and cut off her hair. From there they went to the home of 
Lovett and pulled out the young man in his night clothes and dragged him along 
the road by his hair. They beat him and kicked him severely, and when his 
mother and sister cried out in fear they fired two shots in the air and told 
them they would be killed if they didn't get back to bed and keep quiet. Then 
they grabbed the sister and cut off her hair. From there they went to a co- 
operative creamery at Lixnaw, the largest creamery in North Kerry. They 
broke in the door, stole 1000 pounds of butter, and sprinkled gasolene over the 
walls, floors and machinery and set fire to the place, completely destroying it. 
From there they returned to the barracks at Listowell, arriving about five o'clock 
in the morning. They threatened to kill me if I ever made any report of the 
raid. No questions were ever asked of them by their superior officers and, 
although the circumstances lof the raid aroused great terror and indignation 
among the inhabitants no investigation was ever made by the military or police 
authorities. 

The members of the Black and Tan forces in Ireland are lowest type of 
humanity imaginable. Many of them boasting of criminal records, and I have' 
never come in contact with such vile human beings elsewhere. They make a' 
practice ^of breaking in saloons and public houses and taking the liquor stored 
therein, and many of them are drunk continuously, and all of them are drunk 
part of the time. It is their practice to make raids at night dressed in civilian 
clothes and with their faces blackened and to bring back to the barracks fowl 
and food stolen from the countryside. 

I have not in my possession the discharge papers or enrollment card in 
the R. I. C., as it was necessary to destroy these before leaving Ireland. My 
registration number in the R. I. G. was 68,147. 

(Signed) MICHAEL KELLY. 

STATE OF CONNECTICUT, ) 
COUNTY OF NEW HAVEN ) ss.: 

New Haven, March 7, 1921. 
Personally appeared before me Michael Kelly, who made solemn oath that 
the foregoing statement is true and was made voluntarily, and who signed the 
same in my presence. 

(Signed) JOHN H. HOLMES. 
Notary Publici. 
My commission expires February 21, 1924. 
(Seal.) 



APPENDIX "G" 

(From the Cork Weekly Examiner, February 26, 1921) 
The Burn! ig of Cork 

The Hon. the Recorder of Cork, K.C., took up the hearing on Thursday of 
the compensation claims arising out of the burning of the city on the night of 
llth-12th December. There are in all 602 claims, and they are expected to 
occupy the court for some weeks. 

The first case taken was that in which the proprietors of the Munster Arcade, 
Messrs. Robertson, Ledlie, Ferguson and Co., Ltd., claim £405,000. 

Mssrs. H. D. Conner, K.C., and Mr. George Daly (instructed by Mr. J. J. Hor- 
gan, solr.) appeared for the applicants. 

There was also a claim by Captain Crosbie Charles Harvey, of Kyle, head! 
landlord 'of the premises, and Mr. F. Cotter (instructed by Messrs. Stanton and 
Sons, solrs.) appeared for him. 

Mr. Conner said the application arose out of the occurrence that took place 
on the night of the 11th December, and continued until far into the morning 
of the 12th. ... 

Evidence was then called. 

Patrick Barry, employed as a dispatch clerk in the Munster Arcade, stated, 
in answer to Mr. Conner, that he slept on the premises on the night of the fire. 
He locked up the domestic part of the house about 9:30, and there were then 



136 AMERICAN COMMISSION ON IRELAND 

on the premises with him two apprentices and three women. After locking up 
the premises he was in a room, when the housekeeper came down to him and 
said there were places on fire in Patrick Street. He opend the shop for one of 
the watchmen, and placed the other at the window overlooking Robert Street. 
He put a|n apprentice on the window overlooking Elbow Lane and went to the 
front of the house himself with another apprentice named Collins. He then 
saw that Grant's was on fire, and he saw police and soldiers with a lorry outside 
the place. Shortly after an ambulance passed down Patrick Street. He saw 
police with rifles moving down Patrick Street, and he saw a tram on fire nean 
Mangan's. He saw one policeman apparently carrying tins of petrol, and he heard, 
noise as if shutters and glass were broken. Police were moving up and down, 
following a Crossley car in which were soldiers. The latter shouted "Cheerio" 
to the police, and the police replied by also shouting "Cheerio." He saw a buncli 
of police going down Maylor street, and immediately after he heard an explo- 
sion near the domestic portion of Cash's in Maylor Street. He saw some girls 
and men coming out of Cash's. He then saw three police pass underneath him» 
and they started to break the glass at Burton's, after which he heard a shout, 
"The Munster Arcade next." A crowd camo underneath the stairs the shut- 
ters were pulled out, and the glass broken. The police then threw a bomb into 
the shop underneath where witness was. He went back and got the rest of the 
employees together. He then went to the window overlooking Elbow Lane, where 
he saw about ten or eleven police. He spoke to them, and told them there were 
women in the house. The answer was given by an officer who told him put his 
hands up. Witness said he had the keys of the place, and he was ordered to 
come down and open the door. He did so, and all the time there were bombs 
exploding in the shop. They were then all marched out, covered with revolvers 
and placed against Wood's gate in Elbow Lane. While they were held there, an 
officer and a policeman went upstairs in the Arcade with petrol. They were 
there for some minutes, when witness saw gushes of flame coming from the 
dining hall. While they were upstairs the other policemen started putting 
masks on their faces. After some time witness's party were released, and they 
went towards George's Street, but they were ordered back by police who fired a 
few rounds at them, but witness thought the shots were fired in the air. They 
then endeavored to go towards the Victoria Hotel, but were ordered back by a 
party of police there. They then went around Marlborough Street, where all 
the windows were smashed. 

Mrs. Gaffney, housekeeper at the Munster Arcade, answering questions by 
Mr. Daly, gave generally corroborative evidence. When the last witness told the 
police that there were women in the place, she heard the reply, "Hold up your 
hands, the women are safe, whatever about you." When the door was opened 
she saw the police outside in the lane, and the officer had a muffler up to his 
eyes and carried a revolver. He went upstairs and carried two heavy looking 
bags with him. When they were lined up in the lane, she asked an Auxiiliary* 
officer to let her go back and put on some clothes, but was refused, the man 
saying: "No, madam, you didn't consider us, we will not consider you." 

Finbarr McAulifi'e, an apprentice, also corroborated. When he was told by 
Barry to go to the kitchen he heard five or six shots fired through the lock. 
About two minutes after, the officer and police went upstairs, they saw flames 
coming through the windows. When they were released, they saw parties whom 
they took to be fugitives like themselves leaving Robert Street, and they went 
in their direction. They found, however, that they were police, and they fired 
a few shots at them. There were also uniformed men at the Victoria Hotel who 
turned them back. . . . 



RECORDER'S AWARDS 

At the sitting of the Court on Friday the Recorder gave judgment in the 
claim of Messrs. Robertson, Ledlie, Ferguson & Co., Ltd., for £405,000 for the 
malicious burning of the Munster Arcade on the llth-12th December. He said 
that in going through the items, as he had done with some care, he had found 
that the sums demanded erred on the side of excess. He had gone through the 
various items with such care as he could, scrutinizing them pretty minutely, and 
he found it necessary to discount several of them. The entire amount of which 
evidence was given came to .^260,927 lis 9d. He had made a deduction of £47,280, 
and would award compensation for £213,647. 



INDEX 



Abbeyfeale 71, 79. 81, 

A.chGriry .,■,,•..•••••••••••••"••"**** 

Act for Restoration of Order 1920 

Adamson. Wm. P 

Adare, Farley, murdered 

Administration, Civil Republic 

A. E. — See Russell, George 

Ahern, homes destroyed 

■AUegiange to Republican government, 

percentage 

Allen, John, case King's Bench 

Ambassador, British 

Raid MacCurtain home 

British Army in Ireland 

American Association for Recognition of 

Irish Republic, memo of counsel . . 

American Commissions, origin 

members 

purposes 

vises 

American sailor, testimony re funeral 

American witnesses 

Ames, Lieut., murdered 

Animals destroyed 

Angllss, Lieut., alias MacMahon 

killed 11. VI. 

"Anti Sinn Fein Society" 

Army proclamation 

Arrests, by British forces 

Constable Mee 

number of Republicans 

without warrant 

Arson, Balbriggan 

City Hall, Cork 

Cochran home t> 

Galway by R. I. C 

Town Hall, Mallow 

see also Reprisals 
Asquith, Herbert, Cork, protest to. — 
Assassinations, British officers 

circumstances 

effect 

policy 

preceded by trial 

punitive and deterrent 

to suppress insurrection 

Assaults by British forces 

Atrocities, Irish and Belgian 

attitude of, British embassy 

British Government 

De Valera 

Auxiliaries 15, 



Baggley, Captain, murdered 71 

Baker, Rev. "W 33 

Balbriggan 2, 32, 35. 47, 79. 96 

atttitude of British to sack 63 

burning of 44 

hosiery factory destroyed 48 

police 62 

refugees 30 

reprisals 30 

killing at 44 

Ballycastle 114 

Ballydaly 95 

Ballyadam, home destroyed 48 

Ballylorby 17, 32. 62 

reprisal 45 

Ballyruddy 68 

Bantry, killings at 22 

Barnes, Major P., Hansard. Croke Park 32 
Barry, Kevin Gerard, deposes torture of 

prisoner 90 

Barracks, raids on 66 

Littleton attacked 65 

Baxter, Captain 116 

Eeattle, Captain, death of 63 

Belfast 2. 18, 19 

city council 112 

provisional government 8 



84 religious riots HI 

32 Belgium, Irish Consul 106 

10 Bendon 88 

4 Bennett, Miss L., testimony, land courts 108 

63 Protestants 115 

103 Unionists in Republican courts 109 

Bigotry 112 

48 promotion of 113 

Bishops, Invitations to 1 

105 passports 3 

10 Episcopal, at MacCurtain funeral 38 

2 Black and Tans... 15. 55, 63. 73, 79, 96, 98 

39 accused of Croke Park massacre 44 

98 Bantry 22 

barracked with police .*>^ 

47 character of 18 

1 Cochran case 81 

1 disciplined at Cork 43 

1 Galway 27, 67 

6 Headford 83 

59 "Hold-ups" ^. 84 

27 Mallow 32 

71 menace Crowley 63 

52 shoot boy 1" 

73 Bodkin, Judge, report 103 

73 Bomb, incendiary. Mallow 33 

96 Boycott of British agencies 60 

74 Brennan, Michael 52 

35 farm burned 52 

70 Bribes, British for informers 76 

57 British administration, killing MacCur- 

11 tain 38 

30 MacCurtain murder a» 

39 "Sinn Fein Extremists" 38 

1 blue books on Ulster 114 

29 bribes for Informers 76 

33 civil government failure 14 

embassy — „ 

41 correspondence * 

71 refuses vises 6 

75 forces^"" 

75 acts committed in November. 1920.. 101 

73 apprehension IV 

75 assassinate prisoners 26 

74 burn Brennan home 52 

10 burn towns • *V 

85 campaign of suppression 11 

98 casualties, 1920 60 

2 classification of in Ireland 15 

2 conduct of 13 

2 conduct of at Irish funerals 59 

86 Croke Park 71 

custodians of "law and order .. 60 

desecration of dead 59 

destroy crops, live stock 52 

destroy Irish industry 50 

discipline of 60 

drunkenness of IV 

excesses f^ 

fail to preserve order 103 

failure In Ireland 100 

fire Indiscriminately 100 

fire indiscriminately 44 

members of assassinated 71 

members of disguise themselves ... 67 
members of killed by Republi- 
cans 10. 71 

members to testify 17 

moral consequences to 79 

number of 13 

number of raids made by 6V 

officers assassinated 32 

powers of In Ireland 90 

proclamations issued by 13 

raid on MacCurtain home 39 

Republicans arrested by • 57 

resignations from 63 

revenge Captain Beattie 63 

statistics of atrocities of 1917. 

1918, 1919 35 



137 



138 



INDEX 



terror fostered by 17 

victims of their njxsconduct 63 

youth of 17,. 18 

general commends reprisal 29 

government — 

attacks economic and social life.... 105 
ciiarged with MacCurtain mur- 
der 39, 43 

condones reprisals '47 

denies arms to Irish volunteers 67 

discriminates between Irish and 

Ulster volunteers 67 

excuses killings 27 

fails to protect agents 76 

failure of 105 

indictment of 98 

investigation of Cork 41 

passports 6 

propaganda 17 

responsibility for burning Cork.. 43 
high command, of Greenwood- 
justice 98 

Labor Party, investigations of ... 109 

law denied 11' 

suspended in Ireland 45 

neglect to identify military criminals 45 

officers, assassinations of 71 

participate in reprisals — 

shot in Dublin 73 

official utterances 98 

persecution of O'Callaghan 103 

policy in Ireland, evidence before 

Commission 8 

possession of Ireland, duration of.. 7 

rule, defiance of 73 

fails 101 

sergeant-major killed 65 

tradition, violation of 79 

tried before assassination 75 

terror, failure of 105 

use of justificatifs 37 

violate Hague Convention 32 

Broderick, Daniel J 29, 79, 84 

report on Republican Courts 108 

testimony, allegiance to Republic In 

Cork 105 

danger of roads 55 

thieving 81 

Bryce, Mrs. Annan 3, 4 

Bryce report on Belgian atrocities...... 98 

Buckley 19, 45 

brothers, case of 22 

assassinated by British military .... 44 

Burke, British sergeant, killed 62, 92 

Burning of Mallow, a military operation 35 

of towns 47 

Buttevant 33 

raid at 27, 45 

Caddan, Constable John Joseph, tes- 
timony 18, 27, 67 

Galway 29 

Cadets 15, 86 

Cameron Highlanders 15, 44, 92 

Buckley case 24 

Carey, Edward, home destroyed 48 

Carson, Sir Edward 3, 8, 113 

on rebel arms 95 

organizes Ulster volunteers 67 

refuses invitation 3 

Cashell barracks 93 

Casualties, British, in open war- 
fare 62. 65 

estimate of 78 

to British forces, categories of.... 76 

Categories of British casualties 76 

Catholics and non-Catholics, number 

of 114 

Catholic workers, expulsion of 112 

victims of Ulster pogroms ... 112 

Cavell, Edith 95 

Cavendish-Bentinck, Lord i-ienry 27 

Cecil, Lord R., Cork citizens protest to 41 
Hansard, secret military investi- 
gation 44 

Chadwick, Captain 68 

Chamber of Commerce, Cork, demands 

impartial inquiry 41 

Childers, Lieut. -Commander Erskine. . 4, 116 

Church, Irish disestablished 7 



Churchill, Winston 39 

City Halls, burning of 33, 39, 63 

Civil administration of Republic 103 

government, Republican, British at- 
tempts to thwart 105 

liberty, suspended in Ireland 35 

Civilian population, inquisition of ... . 13 

Civilians killed, 1920 19 

Clancy, Constable 24 

Clarke, John Chas., testimony 17, 105 

hold-ups 84 

indiscriminate shooting 52 

Irish spirit unbroken 105 

witnessed flogging 81 

Cleeve, Mr 115 

Clergymen, Ulster, Protestant 4, 113 

Clougheen 57, 63 

Cochran, Mrs., dairy burned 79 

Collins, Michael 88 

Commander in Chief of British forces 

in Ireland, cf. Macready 
Committee of One Hundred on Conditions 

in Ireland 1 

personnel of II 

of inquiry — representing American 

Commission — vises refused 4 

Commissioner of police, Dublin Castle 68 

Communications, official, Dublin, 1921.. 48 

Complaints to Greenwood re looting. ... 83 

Congress, Republic 8. 106 

Congressmen, invitations to 1 

Connolly, Mrs., death of 54 

Constabulary, British connotation .... 60 

character of 62 

Consul-General of Irish Republic to 
U. S., cf. J. L. Fawsittt 

Consuls, Republican, located 106 

Co-operation fostered by Republic .... 106 

Co-operative creamery 50 

Co-operative movement 7 

Irish described 50 

Co-operatives established 106 

Cork ..2, 7, 29, 32, 47, 71, 101 

allegiance to Republic 105 

boy shot by Black and Tans 17 

burning of, attributed to "Sinn Fein 

Extremists' ' 39 

chamber of commerce commands in- 
quiry 41 

destruction of 39 

employers' federation 41 

estimate of damage to 41 

fire brigade, deposition of 39 

harbor board 41 

investigation by British government.. 41 

looting in 81 

Mayor MacCurtain murdered 37, 38 

report on British forces 101 

resignations of magistrates 101 

testimony of O'Callaghan 39 

threats to rebels , 96 

"Weekly Examiner" 48 

Corofin, flogging at 81 

Coroner's jury, findings, MacCurtain 

murder 39 

Rooney murder verdict 59 

Swansea verdict 10 

Coroner's juries summoned by British, 

verdicts of 44 

Correspondence, De Valera and British 

embassy 2 

parliament from O'Callaghan 41 

passports and vises 6 

Cotter, Rev. Dr. James H., Galway.. 29 

home destroyed 48 

testimony 19 

Galway 55 

Coughlin, Alderman 83 

Mrs. Eamon home and shop looted.. 83 

County Antrim 114 

Clare 52 

Councils 108 

Courtney, Sean, testimony raiding and 

looting 83 

Courts, British 14 

disuse of in Ireland 101 

Republican 108 

respect for 14 

Courtsmartial by British forces, 1917, 

1918, 1919 35 



INDEX 



139 



Cramp, C. T 4 

Craven, Mis3 62, 83 

testimony — 

looting 81 

"Walsh 30 

Creameries, burning of 50 

Creed, John, held up ....... . 84 

CroKe Park 19 

massacre 71, 96 

massacre and Black and Tans 44 

reprisal 32 

Crops destroyed 52 

Crowley, D. F 88, 76,115 

testimony — 

I'liblic meetings 103 

resignations from British forces.. 63 

Cruise, Inspector S'2 

testimony, Galway reprisal 45, 62 

Cumner, flogging at 81 

Curfew, Cork 39 

Dublin 57 

Dail Eirann 8, 105, 106, 108 

Daily Herald, London 93, 100 

Damage, Cork claims 41 

Danckert 41 

Deasey, General 76 

orders indiscriminate slaying 92 

orders to police 57 

Death penalty for carrying arms .... 95 

for harboring rebels 5-5 

Declaration of Independence, Irish .... 8 

Dempsey, Frank 05, 86 

tesiiniony 18 

lawless 30 

Mallow ;i2, 64 

trainmen boycott 60 

Denmark, Irish Consul 106 

Deportations by British, 1917, 1918, 1919 35 

Deported 11 

Depositions — 

Barry, torture of prisoners 90 

Buckley 22, 83 

fire brigade, Cork 39 

Kelly, M 68 

McNamara, J 68 

Nunan, Patrick 26 

Jr 26 

O'Grady 83 

Derham, John 3 

testimony — 

Balbriggan, sack of 79 

burning of Balbriggan 48 

Balbriggan refugees 30, 54 

Burke 62 

Cochran case 79 

Gibbons 30 

lawless 30 

pillage of Balbriggan 81 

De Roiste 41 

Destruction of animals 52 

creameries 50 

crops 52 

industries 48 

De Valera, President Eamon 2, 106 

correspondence with 2 

Devlin, Hansard, secret military tri- 
bunals 44 

Dishonesty of British forces 86 

Donovan, home destroyed 48 

Dorgan, Michael home destroyed 48 

Drunkenness 86 

Galway 29 

Mallow 33 

prevalence among British forces.. 17, 18 

Dublin 92, 116 

Angliss, killed 11 

atrocities 27 

Lynch, shot 19 

restrictions in 57 

Dublin Castle, cf. Tudor 

Dwyer, Thomas 62, 75 

shot 19 

verdict of coroner's jury 62 

Economic causes, religious strife 113 

commission appointed by Republican 

government 106 

life attacked by British 105 

program. Republican 106 



Editors, invitations to 1 

Election, general in Ireland, 1918.... 8 

issue 1919 8 

urban county council 113 

Enimet, Robert 116 

Employers' Federation, Cork 41 

English, Rev. Michael 68 

testimony 21 

Englishwomen's International League, 

report of 100 

Ennistymon 47 

Episcopal rector 115 

Essex 15 

Evidence, method of gathering 2 

Parley, murder of 63 

Fawsitt, J. L 101,108 

testimony — 

economic conditions 106 

industrial organization 106 

land banks 106 

loan 106 

Republican leaders 106 

Feakle 17, 47 

Fermoy 33, 45 

Findings, statement of Commission, 13, 14 

Fines levied by British forces 11 

Fires in Cork 39 

First Lancashire Fusiliers 92 

Fitzgerald, hunger strike 60 

Flogging of Irish 81 

France, Irish Consul 106 

Freeman's Journal 70 

Free speech suspended in Ireland .... 35 

French, Lord, abets insurrection 13 

correspondence captured 73 

refuses invitation 3 

Friends, British 4, 100 

report on Republican courts .... 108 
report on allegiance to Irish Re- 
public 106 

testimony. Republican Government.. 105 

Committee of, report of 101, 109 

Functioning of Irish secret service .... 73 
Funerals, Irish, disrespect for by Brit- 
ish 59 

of murdered officers 98 

Furnas, Paul 4, 101, 106 

report of Society of Friends 109 

"G" Division, secret service ...v 71 

Gaelic League 7, 115 

Galvin, Constable Daniel 62 

Galway, 18, 32, 35', 45, 47, 57, 71, 83, 92 

police 62 

reprisal 27, 45, 62 

Geddes, Sir Auckland 2 

General in command confirms sentence 

of military court 95 

British, commends Galway assassins 45 

George, Lloyd 93 

German army in Belgium 98 

Gibbons, John, murdered 30 

Cardinal 1 

Ginnell, Lawrence, testimony 114 

Dublin, March, 1920 55 

Glebe House 48 

Governor, military, orders homes de- 
stroyed 48 

Governors, invitations to 1 

Granard 32 

Greene, Mrs. Alice Stopf ord 4 

Greenwood, Sir Hamar 92, 95 

Cork citizens protest to 41 

denies robberies 83 

Hansard, Major Burnes 32 

Balbriggan 44 

Mrs. Quinn 79 

on secret military tribunals 44 

official morals 95 

protection property in Cork 41 

refuses invitation 3 

responsibility for 98 

"Weekly Summary" 96 

Grey, Earl, British in Ireland 101 

Griffin, Father, murdered 39 

Griffith, Arthur 2, 4 

Guarantees immunity to Constable Mee 70 

protection to Mallow 33 

Guilfoil, P. J., testimony 1'7 

funerals 69 



140 



INDEX 



Hackett, Francis 68, 111 

estimates, allegiance to Republic... 105 

police killed 65 

testimony, attack on Irish political 

life 103 

economic commission 106 

. religious riots Ill 

Hague Convention 45 

Article 46, violated 52 

violated 92, 95 

Hale, Thomas, tortured 88 

Hampshire 15 

Hansard — 

case of Mrs. Quinn 79 

criticism of British publications. ... 17 

Croke Park 32 

secret military tribunals 44 

Sir Hamar Greenwood on Balbriggan 44 

Harbor Board, Cork 41 

Harte tortured 88 

Hartnett, Mrs., men assault 84 

Haughton, Benj 41 

Headford 83 

Henderson, Arthur 4 

Cork citizens protest to 41 

Herman, Cannon 33 

Higginson, H. W., on hostages 93 

reprisals 47 

Hogan, Timothy ., 96 

looted .' 83 

Homes raided, 1920 54 

Home rule, Irish, Act of 1914 8 

bill and capitalism 113 

Hosiery factory, Balbriggan, destroyed 48 

Hospital 32 

County Limerick 21 

Hostages 92 

of British forces 13 

House of Commons, cf. Hansard 

' 'Hue and Cry' ' 17 

Identity, military criminals 45 

Identification methods 21 

mistaken. Lynch and McCarthy 21 

Immunity, sexual crimes 86 

Imperial British, cf. British 

Incitement to murder 76 

violence 17 

Industries, destruction of 48 

motives for destroying 48 

fostering of 106 

Inquest, coroner's, abolished by British 22 

lynch, by military 19 

Inquiry, Cork, report suppressed 41 

civilian requested 41 

impartial demanded by Chamber of 

Commerce 41 

in Ireland, British prevent 4 

parliamentary refused 7 

Smyth demanded 70 

Inquisition of civilian population .... 13 

Inspector, British wounded 11 

Inspectors, officers of R. I. C 15 

Insurrection, method of suppressing.. 10 

opposed by Bi itish 8 

Insurrectionary movement in Ulster.. 8, 116 

International law 11 

Investigation, cf. Inquiry 
Invitations to senators, congressmen, 
governors, mayors, editors, 

bishops 1 

Irish defense commences, 1919 37 

Irish retaliate, 1919 37 

Irishmen killed by British "police".... 11 

Irish policy of assassinations 73 

rebellions, dates 7 

Republic, cf . Republic 

resistance, non-violent 60 

volunteers restore order Ill 

denied arms 67 

workers refuse to operate trains .... 60 
Irwin, Rev. J. A., Presbyterian Repub- 
lican imprisoned 113 

Italy, Irish Consul 106 

Johnson, Harold 84 

Journalists, English 4 

Jury service, Irish refuse 101 

Kaiser, His Majesty th« 96 



Kavanagh, Teresa, wounded 27 

Kelly, Michael, deposes, Smyth 68 

Kenry 52, 68 

Kenworthy, Com., Cork citizens pro- 
test to 41 

Keogh, Miles, Barry's deposition 88 

ICildare 52 

Kiley, Hansard, military tribunals . . 44 

Kilkenny, Mayor of "hostage" 93 

Killings by British forces 1917, '18, '19 35 

Croke Park 32 

discriminate of Irish 11 

excused by British 27 

in Ireland infrequency in normal times 62 

MacCurtain 37 

miscellaneous 71 

Killing of Black and Tans 73 

British officers 32 

Irish by British "police" 11 

prisoners 26 

Quirk 29 

Republicans 13 

Sinn Feiners n 

Gibbons, James 30 

Lawless, John 30 

Killings ordered by Div. Com. Smyth 92 

list compiled by Republican Governm't 19 

Republicans in custody 22 

Thurles 2I 

"Walsh, Councillor Galway 19 

without provocation 36 

King, Mrs. A. B., Galway 29, 67 

testimony of 22 

'indiscriminate firing '.'.'.'. 44 

refugees 55 

King's Bench, decision state of war.. 10 

Knockgriflin, homes destroyed at 48 

Knockscuwa gg 

Krumm .'."!!!! 63 

Black and Tan, Galway ".'!!.'.* ." .' .* .* .' .' .' 27 

death of 67 

Labor Commission, British on Cork... 41 

Irish, on Cork . 41 

Party, British delegates 3 

vises American Commission 6 

movement, Irish 4, 7 

report, British 6, 98 

solidarity of, Protestant and Catholic 113 

Lahinch 47 

Lancashires ' " 15 

Land banks !!!!.'.' 106 

courts. Republican institution 108 

Landsbury, George 4 

Law and order 60 

Lawless, James 30 

Lendrum, Captain 75 

execution of | 69 

Letham, Commissioner 68 

Ley de Fuga 22, 26, 27, 43 

British "justice" 24 

Buckley case 24 

Limerick 32, 47, 52, 115 

Lisburn 95, 112 

Swanzy assassination of 68 

Listowell 68 

Littleton, barracks attacked ....!!.!!.. 65 

Loan floated by Dail Eirann 105 

Local government. Republican, allegi- 
ance increasing 108 

Logue, Cardinal 2, 3, 4 

London Daily Herald 93, 100 

Londonderry, religious riot 2, 111 

Loot, perquisite of murder 83 

Looting by British forces 18, 86 

Coughlin home and shop 83 

Courtney home 83 

directed by officers British forces 83 

Galway by R. I. C 29 

Mallow 33 

1920 81 

O'Grady home 83 

Walsh home 81 

Lowndes, County Inspector 17 

at Ballylorby 62 

reprisal 45 

drunk 86 

Lucas, General 73, 76 

arrest of 74 

orders Indiscriminate slayinj: 98 



INDEX 



141 



Lynch, James 62, 75 

John A., assasinated by British mili- 
tary 44 

Patrick, killed 21 

verdict coroner's jury 44 

Lynch mobs 98 

McCarthy, James, killed 21, 62 

verdict of coroner's jury 44 

Paul, home destroyed 48 

McKnlgrht, W. A., Ulster statistics 114 

McNamara, John 68 

MacCurtain, "Thomas, Lord Mayor of 

Cork 19, 62, 67, 75, 103, 112 

assassinated 10, 37, 41 

funeral 38 

verdict coroner's jury 39, 44 

Mrs 3, 38 

invitation to 39 

MacDonald, William 6 

MacGearallt, Seamus, aflBdavit Queens- 
town 103 

MacMahon, cf. Angliss 

Macready, General, denies robberies.. 83 

Mallow 33, 45 

MacSwiney, Miss Mary, Irish endurance 35 
character of Republican leaders.... 106 
testimony^ 

British attacks on Irish political 

life 103 

Republican courts 108 

restraint of Republicans 74 

spies 71 

MacSwiney, Terence, Lord Mayor of 

Cork 60 

hunger strike 60, 116 

sneers at . 98, 103 

"on the run" 54 

Mrs. Muriel 52 

Peter 3 

Macauley, Mrs., robbed 81 

Magistrates, number resigning 100 

Malicious injuries act 108 

Mallow 2, 32. 45, 47, 86 

barracks 32 

attacked by Republicans 65 

burning of milk station 35, 50 

protection promised by British forces 33 

reprisal, cause of 45 

Manchester Guardian, The 74, 81, 100 

Martial law, proclamation of by Brit- 
ish government 10 

use of 10 

Massacre. Croke Park 44, 71, 96 

Maurer. James H 6 

Mayor of Cork, passport 3 

see MacCurtain, MacSwiney. O'Cal- 
laghan 

Londonderry Ill 

Mayors, invitations to 1 

Mee, Constable, arrested 70 

defies Colonel Smyth 70 

Immunity guaranteed 70 

Meetings dispersed by British forces.. 35 
Members of Amer. Commission. . . .Title page 

Method of gathering evidence 2 

Midleton 48 

Buckley case 24 

Military. The 15 

court 95 

governor orders homes destroyed.... 48 

necessity for destruction 47 

patrol burning streets 39 

in church aisles 57 

Miltown-Malbay 47 

Ministers of State 106 

Mohan. Michael. Mrs., resignation of 

magistrates 100 

testimony of 24. 73 108 

Moore. Colonel Maurice, "hostage".... 93 

Morals of British forces 86 

Morgan. Denis. Commis. of Thurles. 

3. 38. 69. 75 103 

home attacked 64 

on election 1920 105 

report on Republican courts 108 

testimony of 21 

attitude of British forces on sacking 63 

allegiance to Republic 105 

British attacks on Irish political life 103 



disuse of courts in Thurles 101 

Dublin streets 65 

Littleton barracks 65 

Republican and British police con- 
trasted 100 

resignation of magistrates 100 

slaying of R. I. C 71 

Thurles 62 

wakes 57 

Mosley, Hansard. Mrs. Quinn 79 

Munster 68 

Murder, wanton. British 79 

Murderers unpunished 76 

Murphy, hunger strike 60 

Denis 95 

Cornelius sentenced by military court 95 

James, assaulted 86 

Sean, testimony — 

brutality British officers 86 

Nation, London, The 95, 100 

New York, The 1 

National feeling, growth of 114 

Nevlnson, H. W 3, 4 

Newman. Major Oliver T 6 

Newspapers suppressed by British forces 35 

New Statesman. London 39. 100 

Nolan. Thomas, testimony flogging.... 81 

Galway 29 

Non-combatants indiscriminately shot.. 44 

Nunan, Patrick 44 

deposes 26 

Jr.. deposes 26 

O'Brien, Miss N., organizer Gaelic 

League 115 

O'Callaghan, Donal, Lord Mayor of 

Cork 22, 79, 84, 86, 103, 105. 106 

British persecution of 103 

"on the run" 54 

passport 3 

report on Republican courts 108 

testimony — 

attacks on Republican organizations 103 

British burned Cork 41 

British rule 101 

British taxes In Ireland 101 

Buckley case 24 

Cork 39, 41 

Looting 81 

Republican Government 105 

police 109 

resignation of magistrates 100 

Officers, British, participation In re- 
prisals 45 

O' Grady, testimony raiding and looting 83 

O' Halloran, Dr 17 

"Or. the Run" 5i 

O'Neill, Miss Annie, killed 27 

Orange lodges, Protestant societies 111 

Orangemen 112 

Origin of American Commission 1 

O'Shea. John, home destroyed 48 

Peer. County Inspector ... . 6S 

Pallan 52 

Pamphlet, "The Irish Situation." by 

Ulster Delegation 114 

Parliament, British 7 

number of British forces 60 

home rule bill 113 

Sinn Fein, members of jailed 106 

Parliamentary practice, British 98 

questions, MacCurtain murder 38 

Parnell ng 

Passports, attitude of British govern- 
ment to 2 

Bishops 3 

granted by State Department ... 6 

Lord Mayor of Cork 3 

Peace with Ireland Council 100 

Penal laws abolished 7 

Penstraw^, shot as spy 71, 73 

PpzoU, Emll, robbed. Black and Tans.. 84 

Pillage, to suppress insurrection 10 

Plunkett, Sir Horace 2, 4 

Pogroms denounced ne 

Ulster, 1920 m 

Police barracked with Black and Tans. . 62 

British connotation 60 



142 



INDEX 



character of 60 

duties 62 

kill Irish 11 

killed, estimate of 65 

murders of by Republican army 10 

persecute Republican officials 103 

Republican 109 

R. I. C 15 

Policemen 60 

Policy of assassinations, Irish 73 

repression legalized 10 

Political prisoners 60 

strife, economic causes 113 

Population, Sinn Fein 92 

Premier, British, responsible for Cabinet 

members 98 

Presbyterian minister 115 

President of Irish Republic, cf. Prof. 

De Valera 2 

Prisoners, assassination of 26 

pretext for shooting- 22 

robbed 83 

tortured 88 

treatment by Republicans 65 

violence to 83 

Proclamation of martial law 10 

of raids for arms 74 

by British forces 13 

by British high command 93 

of restrictions in Dublin 67 

Property, destruction of 45 

Protestant clergymen at MacCurtain 

funeral 38 

settlement hayricks burned 52 

societies Orange lodges Ill 

unionists 115 

Provocateurs, British 76 

Provisional government, Belfast 8 

Publications, criticized 17 

Purposes of American Commission ... 1 

Queenstown 108 

resignation of magistrates 81. 100 

Quinn, Mrs. Ellen 96 

shooting of 7 9' 

Quirk, murder of 19 

Rabbi, at MacCurtain funeral 38 

Ragg, Thos. Dwyer, shot 19 

Raid by British forces 35 

Buttevant 27 

on MacCurtain home 38, 39 

Mallow 33 

O'Grady home 83 

Republicans at Mallow 32 

Raiders, disguised 67 

Raids, Black and Tans, Headford .... 83 

British, 1917, 1918, 1919 35 

for arms, proclamation 74 

number 67 

in 1920 73 

on barracks by Republicans 65 

Irish homes, 1920 52 

Republicans for arms 10 

Rebellion, Irish, 1916 8 

Ulster, 1914 8 

Rebels, threats to 96 

Records, Republican destroyed 41 

Redmond, John 8 

Refugees, Balbriggan 32 

testimony of Mrs. King 55 

Regiments of British army in Ireland 15 

Religious controversy Ill 

freedom 114 

issue Ill 

peace 115 

riots Ill 

services, presence of armed forces at 57 

strife 113 

Report of British Labor Commission.. 41 

Friends, English 109 

Irish Labor Commission 41 

on British forces in Cork 101 

Reprisal, "Ruse de Guerre" 37 

at Balbriggan 30 

Ballylorby 35 

Croke Park 32 

Galway 37, 45, 62 

Mallow 33, 45 



meaning of 32 

policy condoned 47 

instituted by British 37 

retaliation 35 

Reprisals 30, 98 

British excusatory term 43 

defined by British forces 37 

participation of British officers in . . 45 

Republic, composition of 106 

difficulty of control 74 

endorsement of 1918 8 

fosters co-operatives 106 

functioning of 14 

responsibility for assassinations .... 76 

Republican army, atrocities 17 

attacks Mallow barracks 65 

created 8 

raids 65 

treatment of prisoners 65 

Council 103 

courts 108 

Protestants use 115 

forces, existence and training of ... . 65 
kill members of British forces .... 10 

government 105 

allegiance to, percentage 105 

composition of 106 

effective 118 

list of killings compiled by 19 

supported by majority 108 

officials attacked 103 

organizations attacked 103 

police 109 

records destroyed 103 

records destroyed 103 

treatment of prisoners 65 

viewpoint 4 

workers, expulsion of 112 

Republicans arrested, 1920 57 

assassination of 13 

attack Mallow barracks 32 

"execute" murderers of MacCurtain 68 

Swanzy 68 

raid Mallow barracks 62 

slain in custody 22 

Ulster Council Ill 

Resignations from British forces, num- 
ber 63 

magistrates in Cork 101 

R. I. C 75 

Resistance, Irish 60 

Resolutions, "Anti-Sinn Fein Society" 96 
Responsibility, British conditions in Ire- 
land 11 

Restoration of Order Act, 1920 10, 45 

Retaliation, threats made by Orangemen 112 

Retalations, official 96 

R. A. M. C 92 

R. I. C 38, 96 

at Bantry 22 

British propaganda among 17 

description 15 

members testifiy 18, 62, 63 

members shot, Galway 29 

verdict of coroner's jury 44 

Richards, Black and Tans 63 

Riot — religious — Londonderry Ill 

Robberies, complaints to Macready .... 83 

Robbery, Cork 83 

Robinson, Mrs. Annot Brskine. . . .3, 18, 111 
testimony — 

British casualties 60 

distribution of troops 73 

Home Rule Bill 113 

Swanzy 112 

Ulster pogroms Ill 

Rochestown 83 

Rooney 62 

killed 57 

Russell, George (AE.) 2, 3, 4 

testimony — 

destruction of creameries 50 

Miss Ruth, testimony — 

character of Republican leaders.... 105 



Sacking— see reprisal 

Sanctions, official — property destroyed . . 47 

Secret service, English 73 

Department 2-B, order of 96 



INDEX 



143 



Republluun 73 

Secretary for Ireland, cf. Sir Hamar 
Grconwuod 

Senators, apin-oval of 1 

invitations to 1 

Seventeenth Lancers 15 

Mallow 32 

Sexual crimes, immunity from ........ 86 

Shaw, George Bernard 4 

Sherlock, John 71, 75 

Shields, Rev. T. T 4 

Shooting indiscriminate 43 

ordered by General Lucas 68, 74 

"Shot for Refusal to Halt" 26 

"Shot for Trying to Escape" 24 

Simon, Sir John 4 

"Sinn Fein Extremists" 37, 98 

British term 39, 41 

effect on Irish Republicans 39 

MacCurtain murder 38 

Sinn Fein police 109 

Sinn Feiners, indiscriminate slaying of 92 

killingr of 11 

percent of population 92 

policy in Ulster .- . . 114 

threatened 96 

Skerries, murder 71 

Smyth, Colonel Division Commander, 

10, 73, 76, and 112 

addressed R. I. C 68 

exhorts to murder 68 

orders indiscriminate slaying 92 

Society of Friends, cf . Friends 

Spain, Irish Consul 106 

Spies, British 37, 71, 76 

killed by Republicans 10 

"Sportsmanship" British 86 

St. Brendan's School 115 

State Department, grants passports ... 6 

State of War — decision of King's Bench 10 

Statement, official — Brig. -Major at Cork 48 

States represented in American Comm'n 1 

Strickland, Major-General 7 

Cork report suppressed 41 

Suppression, campaign of by British 

forces 11 

of newspapers 35 

Swanzy, District Inspector of R. I. C, 

3, 73, and 112 

charged with MacCurtain murder... 39 

indicted by coroner's jury 10 

part in MacCurtain's murder 39 

transferred to Lisburn 68 

Miss Irene 3 

Tangney, John, testimony 17, 67 

drunkenness 94 

General Deasey's orders 57 

shot 63, 73 

Taxes, British collection in Ireland.... 101 

Republican 108 

Teeling 74 

arrested 71 

trial by military tribunal 11 

Templemore 32, 47 

Town Hall 63 

"Termes justificatifs" of British 37 

Terror, British 13, 19, 52 

failure of 105 

Intensification 37 

to suppress insurrection 10 

Testimony — 

assassination of MacCurtain 37 

Bennett 26 

Republican courts 109 

Protestantism Ulster 115 

Broderick, danger of roads 55 

Thieving 81 

Caddan, Galway 29 

Clarke 17 

hold-ups 84 

shooting 52 

Cotter 19 

Galway 29, 55 

Courtney — 

looting 83 

raiding 83 

Craven, looting .^ 81 

Dempsey — 



Boycott by Irish trainmen 60 

Mallow 32, 57 

Derham, Balbriggan refugees 54 

burning of Balbriggan factory 48 

Cochran case 79 

pillage, Balbriggan 81 

English 21 

Pawsitt, industrial organization, 105 106 

Irish loan 105 

Galvin 76 

Grlnnell, Dublin 55 

religious controversy 114 

Greenwood 27 

Guilf oil 17, 59 

funerals 59 

Hackett, economic commission 103 

Irish political life 103 

religious riots Ill 

King, Galway 29 

refugees 55 

searchlight in indiscriminate firing 44 
MacSwiney, British attack Irish polit- 
ical life 103 

British oppression, Irish endurance 74 

Republican courts 108 

restraint of Republicans 103 

spies 71 

Member of British forces 17 

"murders of police" 10 

Mohan 24, 73. 108 

Morgan 21 

British attack on Irish political life 103 

Dublin streets 55 

Thurles 21, 54 

wakes 57 

Murphy 86 

Nolan, flogging 81 

Galway 29 

O'Callaghan 39 

attacks on Republican organizations 103 

Buckley case 24 

Cork 39, 41 

looting, 1920 81 

Republican government 105 

police 109 

O' Grady, raiding and looting 83 

Robinson, British casualties 60 

distribution of troops 73 

Home Rule Bill 113 

Lisburn refugees 112 

Swanzy murder 112 

Ulster pogroms Ill 

Russell, burning of creameries .... 50 

Ruth 105 

Tangney 17 

drunkenness ; 94 

General Deasey's orders 57 

Toksvig, religious riots 19, 111 

Townshend, Protestantism 115 

Turk, funerals 59 

Walsh-Swanzy case 68 

looting Cork 81 

Miss S 37 

MacCurtain home 39 

Wilkinson, indiscriminate firing 43 

West Clare and Limerick 52 

Women's International League of Eng- 
land, Republican Government.... 105 

Thieving by British forces 81 

Thomastown ambush 35 

Threats to rebels in Cork 96 

to Sinn Feiners 96 

Thurles 2, 32, 44. 57.103 

disuse of courts in 100 

killings 21 

Tipperary ^ 32. 35, 57 

Toksvig, Miss S Ill 

testimony 19 

economic conditions Belfast 113 

religious feeling 114 

riots Ill 

Tolerance, religious 115 

Tone, Wolfe 116 

Torture, prisoners 88 

Torturing, Thomas Hale 88 

Harte 88 

Towns burned, 1920 47 

Townshend, Miss, testimony 108 

Ulster 115 

Trial by Republicans 74 



144 



INDEX 



of spies by Republicans 10 

Tribunal, Elnglish, demanded Cork.... 41 

international demanded Cork 41 

military, trial ol Teeling 11 

Tribunals, British secret 44 

Irish secret 76 

military, morality 96 

Tuam 32, 47 

Tubercurry 32 

Tudor, Major-Geueral 70 

Black and Tans 68 

Turk, Henry, testimony on funerals.... 59 

Ulster Council Ill 

counties 113 

delegation to U. S 114 

insurrection ' 8 

Protestant clergymen 4 

riots, 1926 Ill 

Sinn Fein policy 114 

statistics 114 

Unionist viewpoint 4 

volunteers 67 

armed 8 

Unionist Member Cork Harbor Board . . 41 

viewpoint 3 

Unionists armed, 1914 8 

policy of British government ... . 115 

Ulster Council Ill 

United States, Irish Consul 106 

Urban Council, Templemore 63 

Councils 108 

Vane, Sir Francis 4 

Victoria Barracks, communique issued 

from 95 

Viewpoint, Irish Republican 4 

Ulster Unionist 4 

Unionist 3 

Vises refused by British Embassy 6 

Volunteers, Irish 38, 65, 73 

Ulster 67 



Wakes 67 

"Walsh, Miss Anna, testimony. Black 

and Tans 81 

Swanzy case 68 

Walsh, Louis, election 114 

Councillor Michael 19 

home and shop looted 83 

murdered 30 

Patrick 63, 75 

Miss Susanna 67 

testimony 37, 39 

looting Cork 81 

raid on MacCurtain home 39 

The Misses 37, 52, 75 

Warfare, rules of 10 

Warnings to evacuate home 48 

"Weekly Freeman, The" 95 

"Weekly Irish Times" communication 48 

"Weekly Summary" 17, 96 

"Westminster Gazette" 100 

Wilkinson, Miss Ellen C .3, 17, 73 

testimony 18 

British casualties 60 

indiscriminate firing 44 

Limerick 62 

religious toleration 115 

West Clare 52 

Wilson, Sir Henry abets Insurrection.. 8 

Witnesses, American 4 

English 4 

Irish 3 

invited 2 

list of V 

safety of 2 

Wolfe Tone 116 

Women's International League 3, 52 

investigations of 109 

of England, testimony. Republican 

Government 105 

Trade Union League 116 

Wormwood Scrubbs Prison 38 



IBA^'?? 



